


Mischief Unmanageable

by foursidedjade (ShisoLoveli), ShisoLoveli



Series: The Mischief Cannot Be Managed [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, F/M, Gen, Ghosts need love too, Harry Potter References, Humor, M/M, Magic-Users, Multi, Other, Romance, Yamabear fan club
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-04-08 17:41:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 68,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4314381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShisoLoveli/pseuds/foursidedjade, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShisoLoveli/pseuds/ShisoLoveli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"This is some next level shit. It’d be like kicking Yamaguchi. Or kicking a puppy.”</p><p>“Or kicking Yamaguchi holding a puppy."</p><p> </p><p>Our favorite boys at Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts. </p><p>The mischief cannot be managed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Let's Get This All Sorted Out

"Hey, cut that out!" Daichi yelled, as Noya and Tanaka set off numerous Wildfired Whizz-Bangs in the train hallway. The two idiots laughed manically and unapologetically as a Catherine Wheel came dangerously close to sheering off Daichi's left eyebrow. Further down the hallway Daichi saw Kunimi running away from a erumpent shaped firework trying to gorge him with its horn.

Daichi grabbed the backs of Tanaka's and Noya's robes.

"I'm serious, cut this shit out."

"Ohhh, the Head Boy is scary this year," Tanaka stage whispered to Nishinoya, causing the shorter boy to snigger.

"I know! Damn, we better watch our backs," Nishinoya cackled back. Tanaka laughed.

"You two!" Daichi bellowed, causing both boys to jump beneath his grip. "Don't make me have to take points from you as soon as we get to the castle."

"You wouldn't take points from your own house!" Tanaka gasped in fake horrification.

"Daichi! How could you! And after I bought you those butter beers last week. Traitor!" Nishinoya bemoaned.

"If anything, you need to take points from those damned Hufflepuffs! Come on man, use your powers for good!" Tanaka put in. Nishinoya nodded sagely.

"Yeah, not gonna happen," Daichi rolled his eyes, pulling the fireworks from their hands. "I'm confiscating these. I don't need a common room full of naked wood nymphs prancing in the air all night."

"Naked wood nymphs, eh? I don't think they come in that shape, but it's always fascinating when I catch a glimpse of what's truly on your mind," a silky voice interjected smoothly into the conversation.

"Oh, God. Kuroo, not now," Daichi didn't even turn around to look at the taller boy as he pocketed the fireworks.

"That's really how you're going to greet your future best man after not seeing him for an entire summer?"

"I think instead of 'best man' you mean 'unfortunate acquaintance'. Daichi turned to Kuroo. The minute his head turned, Noya and Tanaka ran into their compartment, shutting the door behind them. Kuroo was leaning against the wall in a beautiful display of composed elegance despite the swaying of the moving train.

"Your comebacks are as tame and straight-laced as ever. 'Unfortunate acquaintance'? What are you, a cross old woman? There are better insults you can use that still retain some dignity. Take "pompous jackass" for example. Or "annoying, jerk faced wanker". He straightened, and even though he wore the same standard robes from Madam Malkin's as everyone else, like every year since Daichi had first met Kuroo, the material of his robes appeared silkier and richer. When Kuroo stood as his full height, the black cloth seemed to artistically drape across his body, showing off clean, pressed lines that accented how domineering his frame truly was. Daichi would have bet his Weasley 1000 that the tall chaser had them professionally tailored and magicked again as soon as he left Madam Malkin's. Seeing Kuroo standing there in his expensive robes with his Slytherin smirk and trademark hair that was probably put into place by $300 bottles of black market Sleekeazy pomade, the words "pompous jackass" did come to mind… or more accurately, "pompous, _rich_ jackass".

"You do realize you're inadvertently insulting yourself?" Daichi shot back, only causing Kuroo's smirk to widen. "And where the hell were you earlier. You know you're supposed to show up in the prefects car the first 10 minutes of the ride."

"I had business to take care of," Kuroo said, picking off an imaginary (but probably real to Kuroo) spec of dust on his sleeve.

"You had business to take care of? You think you're the Godfather now or something?" Daichi grumbled.

"What?" Kuroo's expression turned to one of pure bewilderment. "I don't think I'm your god father, how the hell did you even infer that?"

"Never mind." Daichi shook his head in self-amusement. "Muggle thing."

"Oh."

Daichi turned and headed back to the prefect car, Kuroo automatically following him.

"So, how was your summer, you catch some dick or what? I noticed you didn't owl me as much as usual."

"I never owl you," Daichi replied flatly.

"So what was it, huh?" Kuroo went on as if Daichi hadn't spoken. "You meet that beefy Hungarian pen pal you were writing last year? You two knock thunder thighs? Make it boom in the room?"

"Fuck, how am I even your friend. No, scratch that. How do I even know you?"

Kuroo smirked.

"The world is full of such beautiful mysteries. It's best not to dwell on them too long. Just appreciate being graced by this miracle and bask in the magic that is Kuroo."

Daichi huffed an exasperated laugh as he pushed open the door to the prefect's car. Yamaguchi sat in a seat in the middle of the room, head bent over a book. He was reading so intensely he didn't even look up to see who entered. The only other person in the room hooted happily at the sight of Daichi and Kuroo.

"Bokuto?!" Kuroo shouted in honest surprise. "What the hell are you doing in here?" Catching sight of the shiny badge that glinted in the light as Bokuto stood up, Kuroo whooped. "You're a prefect! When- no, how did that happen? No wonder I couldn't find you in any of the compartments!"

"Kendrick decided to go abroad for his last year, so the honor of being a prefect was passed down to me. I didn't tell you because I wanted to surprise you," he puffed out his chest, hands on his hips. "Look damn good don't I?"

"Gorgeous bro, fucking gorgeous."

Bokuto laughed happily as his owl, Momo, landed on his head.

"Wow, Kuroo, are you styling your hair differently from when I last saw you two weeks ago? Looks more chic than usual."

"Why yes I am Bokuto, thank you for noticing. You can see I moved this section an inch to the right…"

Tuning out the ego-stroking conversation Daichi headed toward the back of the car to where his stuff was stored. He pulled down one of his bags and pulled out his bag of coins. Worrying over last minute Head Boy duties and ideas had caused him to miss breakfast, and his stomach was beginning to complain. He started back to the front, stopping by Yamaguchi.

"Hey," said Daichi, trying to catch his attention. Yamaguchi was so absorbed in his book he didn't hear or respond. Daichi felt the urge to flick the young teen's ahoge, but he knew Yamaguchi felt self-conscious about his unwanted trademark lock of hair. "Yamaguchi," he reached out and pulled the book down just a little. Yamaguchi violently started, eyes shooting up to Daichi's face in horror. He slammed the book shut and shoved it onto the seat next to him, hand placed (rather protectively) on top of it. Daichi felt his inner-parent sigh.

"Right. Well, anyway, I'm going to the trolley, you want anything?"

"Uh, no. Nope, thanks. Thanks for asking!" Yamaguchi sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah no problem," Daichi said, choosing to not question the younger boy. Compared to the rest of the student body, especially the other current occupants of the car, Yamaguchi was a beautifully adorable, non-worrying marshmallow. Daichi continued on his way, ignoring the previously mentioned other occupants who were flexing and feeling each other's muscles.

After pausing to help Hinata get out of a full body bind he had accidently set on himself in a demonstration gone wrong for Izumi and Kouji, Daichi bought as much crap as he could carry and headed back to the car. He stopped by Yamaguchi (who was now reading what appeared to be a different book) and dropped a pack of Sugar Mice into his lap. He knew they were Yamaguchi's favorite.

"What are these for?" Yamaguchi asked in surprise.

"For not being a moron," Daichi explained, dumping the rest of his snacks onto the seat. Kuroo and Bokuto immediately honed in on the sweets and walked over to mooch off of Daichi.

"Ah," Yamaguchi said in immediate understanding, "Thanks!" Yamaguchi smiled brightly and ripped open the package. Daichi sat down and slapped Kuroo's hand as it made a grab for a chocolate frog. "Hands off. I don't even know why you're such a freeloader when your family could buy out the entire Honeydukes' franchise if it wanted."

"You mean ten Honeydukes' franchises," Kuroo corrected as he swiped a Pumpkin Pasty instead. Bokuto laughed, almost choking on the Licorice Wand he shoved in his mouth. "What're you reading anyway, Yamabear?" Bokuto asked the watching Yamaguchi, who promptly turned red at the nickname.

"Uh, it's about the origin of the wiggentree and its various magical uses throughout history-"

"Sounds riveting," Kuroo cut him off insincerely. Out of the corner of his eye Daichi saw Yamaguchi sag in relief. Whatever the book was, it was fascinating enough that Yamaguchi couldn't put it down, but was either forbidden or embarrassing enough for him to transfigure the text into a different shape in an effort to disguise it. Probably porn.

Bokuto grabbed a box of Every Flavor Beans and tilted the open container over his mouth, dumping a large number of the tiny candies into it. Daichi grimaced.

"Bokuto that is disgusting. What if you get a vomit flavored one."

"Nah, see. I figure my chances are really good. Like, the ratio of nasty beans to delicious beans must be about 1 to 15. So the good ones will completely mask the flavor of the bad."

"Great logic," Kuroo commented, swiping a chocolate frog when Daichi focused on opening a caramel. Daichi shot him a look as the compartment door opened and Ennoshita walked into the room.

"What is this?" He asked good-humoredly, as he made his way to their group of seats. "We younger prefects are doing our duty and patrolling the train, and the seventh years and Head Boy are back here eating sweets."

"Duty," Bokuto giggled, then immediately burst into laughter, spraying Daichi with chewed up bits of cookie. Kuroo immediately started laughing as well, dropping the rest of the box of Every Flavored Beans he had picked up, the tiny pieces flying across the floor on impact. Yamaguchi gave a wry chuckle at the scene.

"This is a sad indication of how our year is going to be." Daichi said to Ennoshita, watching as the two idiots sitting across from him laughed so hard that they knocked heads, causing Yamaguchi to full out start laughing as well .

A grinning Ennoshita reached over and brushed some crumbs off of Daichi's shoulder in sympathy.

\--------

Daichi clapped politely as the last first year student was sorted into Ravenclaw. He tried to maintain the proper Head Boy composure and not look too eager, but he really just wanted the feast to start so he could begin eating and filling his void of a stomach.

"Hey brats, listen up," Headmaster Ukai instructed, rising to his feet. He glared at everyone until they quieted down. " Don't ask me about the details of why I'm going to say what I say, I won't bother telling any of you lot." Daichi rolled his eyes at his Headmaster's typical brusque attitude. "We're getting a handful of new students this year from an international school, the details of which are none of your business. So they're going to be sorted now. End of discussion." Headmaster Ukai sat back down and waved his hand. At the motion, the door next to the high table opened, and a handful of students filed out. A murmur of whispered conversation broke out through the hall.

The first thing Daichi noticed was that every one of them was incredibly striking in appearance. The black-haired girl that led the group out was, _literally_ , the most physically gorgeous person Daichi had ever seen in real life. He heard Tanaka and Noya gasping and moaning in appreciation. The guy that followed her fit the definition of "male physical perfection"; his appearance caused several female Hogwarts' students to squeal. Next came a ruggedly handsome dude with impressive muscles that Daichi was sure were going to unseat Kuroo as strongest student in the school. He looked over at Kuroo and sure enough the idiot had his hand over his face as though he were in pain. Daichi smirked and looked back to the front, his heart suddenly shooting into this throat, where it hung, suspended, until it plummeted into his stomach.

There was a boy standing there, possibly his own age. He had a slim, but solid build, about average height. Fairly average body, if Daichi was honest, but his face... his face was stunningly beautiful. His skin was smooth, pale ivory perfection, accented by a tiny mole kissing the skin next to his gorgeous and honest looking hazel eyes. He had an exquisite slim nose that fit his stunning heart shape face. His mouth was just right, not too big or small; perfectly shaped lips turned upward in a friendly smile directed at the Hogwart's student body. His hair was shimmering, silvery ash-blonde beauty that caught the candlelight as he walked. The boy's eyes caught Daichi's brown ones for a quick second, and his smile brightened, widening across his face like an angelic painting sent from the gods. Daichi gaped.

A hand reached over and gripped onto his chin, pulling his face to the side, and gently pushed his jaw closed. "You'll thank me later." Asahi said nervously, but knowingly. Daichi snapped out of his stupor and looked around to see if anyone else had noticed his brain short circuiting. Luckily everyone else's attention was still on the new students.

"Thanks. For once," Daichi said, embarrassment keeping him from fully harassing his fellow Gryffindor seventh year. Asahi rolled his eyes, but in a gently exasperated, fond way. Daichi directed his attention back to the front to see that an impossibly pretty guy, a short boy with startling golden eyes, a taller fierce looking boy with striped hair, and an incredibly tall boy with white hair had exited the room as well. The last to exit was a kid that looked a few years younger than him with sleek, black hair and a scowl that rivaled Headmaster Ukai's on his worst days.

"Holy shit, that's Kageyama Tobio," Daichi said to Asahi, whose eyes were equally as wide from the sight of the angry looking teen. The Great Hall burst into loud chatter at the sight of the well known Quidditch prodigy, who despite being too young to legally be scouted, was rumored to have already been offered several million galleon contracts from professional Quidditch teams. The scowl across Kageyama's face deepened at the noise, his hands balling into fists at his sides. Daichi watched as the beautiful silver-haired angel walked over to Kageyama and said something into his ear. Kageyama huffed and jerked his head to the side, but his body visibly relaxed.

"Old brats, meet the new brats," Headmaster Ukai said, as way of introduction. "They'll be sorted into houses just like the rest of you were. If you will please, introduce yourself, and your year, then try on the Sorting Hat one by one."

The black-haired girl stepped forward.

"Kiyoko Shimizu, seventh year," she said shortly, then put on the hat. Noya and Tanaka crossed their fingers, whispered prays murmured under their breaths almost audible in the sudden silence that fell on the hall in anticipation.

"Ravenclaw!" The hat announced, causing the table to burst into applause and Noya and Tanaka to groan in disappointment. Daichi looked over and saw Kiyoko sit next to Tsukishima, who appeared to be the only male Ravenclaw not working himself into hysterics.

"Oikawa Tooru, seventh year," the male modelesqe student announced, sending out a cheery grin and peace sign that caused several girls to kyah.

"Ravenclaw!"  
  
A chorus of female cheering burst up from the Ravenclaw table and several girls scrambled around as they tried to get Oikawa to sit next to them.

"Damn! Why are they all smart? I want one!" Noya whined. Asahi laughed.

"Iwaizumi Hajime, seventh year." Daichi instinctively turned to look at Kuroo, who was seizing up Iwaizumi again. Daichi laughed under his breath.

"Gryffindor!"

"YEAHHHH!"

"WHOO!!"

Tanaka and Noya roared as their table burst into loud applause. Tanaka shoved Terushima aside. "Hey, hey this seat is open, come sit here!" Tanaka ushered, as Terushima sent him a dirty look.

"Thanks." Iwaizumi sat down. Up close, Daichi could see he had spectacular muscle tone. He was about to ask Iwaizumi if he played Quidditch, when a voice as smooth and clear as river water broke through his thoughts.

"Sugawara Koushi. Seventh year." Daichi's eyes snapped back just in time to see the silver-haired Sugawara put the hat onto his head. He held his breath, hoping… wishing…

"Slytherin!" Daichi caught his disappointed groan before it left his mouth. He watched in something akin to jealousy as Kuroo patted Sugawara on the back.

Daichi listlessly paid attention to the rest of the sorting.

"Akaashi Keiji. Sixth year."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Kozume Kenma. Sixth year."

"Slytherin!"

"Kyoutani Kentarou. Sixth year."

"Gryffindor!" Daichi clapped half-heartedly, but brightened a bit in mean amusement when Asahi subconsciously shrunk away from Kyoutani as he sat next to him.

"Haiba Lev. Fifth year."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Kageyama Tobio. Fifth year." Daichi straightened up, his Quidditch captain instincts screaming at him the pay attention. The entire hall quieted.

"Slytherin!"

"Noo!!" Noya and Tanaka simultaneously wailed. Daichi watched as Kageyama went and sat next to Sugawara, face stony despite the loud cheering and shouting of the Slytherins. Daichi let his eyes linger on Sugawara's face. Kuroo caught his eye and smirked triumphantly, misinterpreting Daichi's covetous stare for the famous Quidditch player Kageyama and not for the beautiful yet perfect, and perfectly beautiful, Sugawara. Daichi shot him a look back.

"Now that that's over with, get to eating so I can go to bed already." Ukai said. When he slammed his goblet down, the tables in front of them filled with food.

"So, Iwaizumi-san, Kyoutani-san, do you two play Quidditch?" Daichi asked, getting the conversational ball rolling as the responsible Head Boy should.

"Such the Quidditch captain Daichi! There will be plenty of time for that later," Noya said, spearing a sausage onto his fork. "We need to get to more important matters."

"Yup, more important," Tanaka agreed, putting a conspiratorial hand onto Iwaizumi's shoulder, who looked at him inquisitively.

"Like what?" Daichi asked.

"Like if the beautiful Kiyoko-san is available or not," Noya said dreamily.

"Yes, exactly," Tanaka agreed.

Iwaizumi gave the two a considering look, then turned to Daichi. "Yes, I play Quidditch."

"Terrific! What position do you-"

"Hey! Don’t ignore us!" Noya leaned over Tanaka and stuck his face into Iwaizumi's.

"Yeah, man, stop holding out on us."

"Uh, why don't you just go ask her?" Iwaizumi suggested, politely leaning away from Nishinoya.

Nishinoya reeled back. "No, no not possible. "

"Yeah, man, impossible," Tanaka agreed. "We can't just go up and talk to her."

"Huh? Then why do you want to know if she's single?"

Tanaka's face took on a faraway look. "A goddess like that is only made to be observed from afar."

"Very far," Nishinoya nodded.

"But it's still important to know her relationship status. So we can know how far to take our fantasies. Like if we imagine asking her out, we need to know what the odds are fantasy Kiyoko-san will accept or reject us. It's important to be as realistic as possible."

"Very important," Nishinoya agreed solemnly.

Iwaizumi actually chuckled at that, "Alright, I'll throw you a bone. She's not seeing anyone right now."

"Ahhh. Good news."

"Great news."

Daichi rolled his eyes and stabbed a piece of roast potato with his fork. "So Iwaizumi-san what position do you play?"

"I'm a beater. You have a school team or something? How does it work here?"

"Each house has a team and we play each other throughout the year. Tryouts will be in a week or so. We happen to need a new beater this year. You should try out."

"Yeah? Cool, I definitely will."

"Kyoutani-san, what about you? Do you play Quidditch?" Asahi asked politely.

"Yes," he answered gruffly. They all waited for more, but were met with silence.

"Uh, what position do you play?" Asahi tried again.

"Chaser."

"Cool," Nishinoya said finally.

"You interested in tryouts?" Daichi tried, taking pity on Asahi for once.

"Maybe."

Daichi tried not to sweat drop.

"Kentarou," said Iwaizumi with a warning tone. Everyone's eyes involuntary were drawn to Iwaizumi, who was shooting a look at Kyoutani that even Daichi had a hard time not flinching from. Asahi visibly flinched.

"Sorry if I'm being rude. I'll try better next time," Kyoutani stated abruptly, almost robotically, then began to shovel food in his mouth.

"Dude, no problem," Noya assured him good-naturedly, as though the apology hadn't been strange. "I get it, you're the strong, silent type!"

Kyoutani grunted, but then looked up. "Actually, one thing. People call me Mad Dog, not Kyoutani. Not Kentarou," he stated, as though Iwaizumi hadn't just called him that in front of them.

"Mad Dog. Cool. You a werewolf or something," Tanaka tactlessly asked around a mouthful of chicken.

"No. Though I do have some centaur blood in me that makes me not give a fuck about what you guys are saying. Or anyone, in general."

Iwaizumi shook his head and covered his face with an exasperated hand.

There was silence for a few moments, as though no one knew exactly what to say. Then Daichi, Asahi, Noya, and Tanaka simultaneously burst out laughing causing Mad Dog to actually startle. Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow.

Daichi calmed down first. "Mad Dog, don't worry, you won't have any trouble fitting in here."

"I wasn't worried," Mag Dog informed him. Daichi grinned.

"I felt like I should have known that."

"Probably."

Daichi gave a bark of laughter and Iwaizumi's face relaxed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is to make up for that other Hogwarts fic I wrote last year, then took down, if anyone remembers. Completely different plot though.  
> Short first chapter intro, but more to come!
> 
> Talk to me about Haikyuu!! or Hogwarts, or better yet, Haikyuu!! at Hogwarts. LOL >>> http://foursidedjade.tumblr.com/


	2. And So It Begins

When Kenma woke up, he laid in bed, not bothering to move. As he lay there, he gradually heard the other occupants of the room wake up and get ready for the day. One by one they exited the dormitory until, finally, Kenma was alone. Only then did he sit up and pull back the covers of his bed.

Bright light greeted him from the windows that displayed the depths of the Great Lake on the other side of the glass. It had taken him aback when he had first entered the room last night, but he had quickly reasoned that since they were in a dungeon, the only logical options available for their viewing pleasure were either bodies of water or dirt. Given the choice, the former was obviously more pleasant.

He mildly wished there wasn’t so much green. He understood that colors were a “thing” here at Hogwarts and each house was represented by a certain one. However, it was a bit much. The Slytherin table in the Great Hall was green, the common room was green, the dormitories were green, even the water outside of the aforementioned windows was green lake water. He looked at his trunk and saw a green striped tie had been placed atop his folded robes. As he picked up the robes he saw a newly added green trim along the front, collar, and sleeves; there was also a new green Slthyerin crest affixed to the chest. He sighed and put them on.

He fumbled with his hair in the mirror for about thirty seconds, before deciding it was too much trouble, then headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He took his time, and as he predicted, when he descended the stairs to the common room he couldn’t hear any telltale signs of life. However, when he entered the room, he saw a lanky form sprawled across an armchair, arms and legs artfully arranged as though put into place by a professional photographer. Kenma stopped in place.

“Good Morning,” the chair’s occupant greeted casually, looking straight at him. Kenma looked to the left and to the right, as though searching for who the person was addressing.

“I’m talking to you, you know.”

Kenma sighed, “Yeah. I know. Hi.”

“Do you remember me, Kenma?” Kuroo asked, golden eyes almost dancing in seemingly suppressed mirth.

Kenma tried not to fidget, then decided to continue on his way to breakfast. “Yeah.” He said simply, heading toward the exit. He heard Kuroo’s robes rustle as the other boy stood up. The seventh year quickly fell into step beside him.

“That’s good. Last night it seemed like you didn’t even recognize me. I was almost hurt,” Kuroo informed him, his silky tone touched with the slightest bit of distress, and Kenma just _knew_ it was the same tone Kuroo used on girls when he was trying to get them to do something for him, most likely without them even being aware of being manipulated.

This irked him for some reason.

“So you’ve been at an international school all this time? I wondered what happened to you after you moved. You never wrote me,” Kuroo continued, in the same annoying tone.

“You didn’t write me either,” Kenma shot back, unable to stop himself. He grimaced at the irritation apparent in his voice. He spared a glance at Kuroo, who looked to be delighted at Kenma’s response. Kuroo stepped in front of Kenma, and bowing, offered him his hand.

“I sincerely apologize for that. You must forgive me, I was a child at the time and thus, has a child’s intellect. Had I been aware this cessation in our correspondence had caused you such anguish, I would have-”

Kenma stepped around him, face unamused, and continued walking down the corridor. He heard Kuroo straighten and hurry to catch up.

“Ladies,” said Kuroo, smoothly, to a group of girls passing by. The girls giggled rather annoyingly.

“Hi Kuroo-san.”

Kenma took the opportunity to quicken his step, but Kuroo easily caught up, comfortably matching his gait.

_Unfair! Long leg advantage._

“So, suppose we grab breakfast together?” Kuroo casually questioned.

“Uh, I was just going to class early. Not really hungry,” Kenma decided aloud, turning left at the end of the hallway instead of right. To his chagrin, Kuroo followed.

“Great! I’ll walk you. Don’t want you getting lost on your first day.”

Kenma tried not to let his expression sag.

Surprisingly, Kuroo didn’t say anything more to him on the walk, solely opening his mouth to greet other students they passed along the way. He was popular, Kenma realized, as literally every student that walked by, no matter their age, seemed to know Kuroo. They also looked genuinely pleased to see him, if not downright flattered for the attention he directed toward them. Thinking back to the loud, charismatic boy Kuroo had been, Kenma wasn’t surprised.

Kenma stopped in front of the doorway to Charms. The classroom was empty; it was so early even the teacher hadn’t arrived. Kenma silently prayed to Merlin that Kuroo wouldn’t follow him inside. To his relief, Kuroo nonchalantly leaned against the doorway and gave him a lazy smile. “Well, here we are.”

“Thanks. I guess,” Kenma unceremoniously walked through the door, instantly analyzing the room and trying to decide which seat would be best to sit in.

“Wait.” Kuroo’s voice stopped him a few feet in. He turned to see Kuroo standing there, arm extended, offering something in his hand. Kenma recognized the shiny, silver packaging of the strawberry Muggle pastries he had a thing for. When they were younger, Kenma’s mother had refused to buy them, and though Kenma hadn’t lacked pocket money, he had been too shy to go to Gringotts to exchange the coins for Muggle currency. Kuroo, with his large mounds of galleons, and even larger attitude, had discovered this, and would constantly use the treats to bribe Kenma into doing what he wanted (which more often than not had been playing Quidditch). “You still like these don’t you?” Kuroo asked, though his smirk said he already knew the answer.

Kenma just stared at the offering.

“Come on, take it. It’s bad to study on an empty stomach,” Kuroo walked the few steps over, and gently took Kenma’s hand. He placed the package in Kenma’s palm. “Have a good first class.” He said. A small but genuine smile quickly flashed across his face. Then he smoothly turned and walked away, leaving Kenma standing there, with his hand clenched around the foil, skin slightly tingling in the places Kuroo’s fingers had touched.

 

\------

“Get into partners to complete this assignment. Remember both parties have to work together simultaneously while harvesting the Decrepit Belladonnas and the Fire Seed Bush," Professor Nekomata announced.

“Iwa-chan!” Iwaizumi instantly heard in his ear. He turned to see Oikawa standing behind him, looking at him expectantly. The girls Oikawa had been talking to were shooting longing looks in his direction.

“Only if you go get the equipment.”

“Iwa-chan so mean, making me do the heavy lifting,” Oikawa quipped, and Iwaizumi saw Daichi, who looked like he was trying not to eavesdrop, quirk an eyebrow.

“Shut it Shitty-kawa, you’re wasting time.” Oikawa huffed and headed to the front to collect the items. Iwaizumi sighed and watched idly as Daichi and Asahi set up their own station on the long table. Oikawa walked back over with the stuff and dumped it unceremoniously in front of Iwaizumi. “Got it!”

Oikawa pulled a chair over and sat across from Iwazumi, but instead of helping set up, he leaned over and addressed Daichi.

“Yoo-hoo, Head Boy-chan! Nice to meet you. I’m Oikawa Tooru,” he said cheerfully to Daichi, giving him a winning smile. To Daichi’s credit, Iwaizumi saw him simply quirk an eyebrow in amused skepticism.

“Ah, hi. I’m Sawamura Daichi.”

“Thank you for taking care of Iwa-chan for me. I know how difficult he is.”

Iwaizumi kicked Oikawa underneath the table.

Oikawa kicked him back.

“He can be quite the handful this one,” Oikawa continued, voice practically a velvety purr. “If you ever need a hand with him, just shoot me an owl.” He winked at Asahi, who was watching the exchange in silence.

Asahi blushed crimson.

“Thanks, but my hands alone have seemed to be enough for him so far,” Daichi casually stated, eyes on the roots he was peeling in front of him.

Oikawa’s eyes widened fractionally in startled surprise for a split second. Then they narrowed sharply, his expression falling into an amused sneer. Iwaizumi recognized that face. It was the one that appeared whenever they were up against a particularly hard opponent that Oikawa personally wanted to crush. It was the one that Iwazumi saw cross Oikawa's face whenever he finished reading one of his father's missives.

It was the look that appeared whenever Oikawa was about to play Kageyama.

“Idiotkawa, that’s Asahi Azumane. Asahi, this person with the shitty personality is Oikawa Tooru,” Iwaizumi interjected, knowing he had to effectively shut down the exchange before it developed into a full on repertoire that would most definitely turn ugly. “Now that introductions are complete, shut the fuck up and get to work. If I fail this assignment because of you, as compensation you’re going to give me that bottle of Golden Elven Wine I know you’re hiding.

Oikawa instantly pouted, attention successfully diverted. “That stuff is worth more than your entire wardrobe Iwa-chan!” He sniffed daintily, “Anyway, given your delicate nature, you won’t be able to handle even a tablespoon.”

“And if you don’t get to work, you won’t be able to handle my foot, which I will shove so far up your ass-”

“Language Iwa-chan,” Oikawa tsk-ed breezily, picking up an obsidian knife, “there are fair maidens listening.”

Iwazumi stopped short and looked surreptitiously to the side, only to see the group of girls at the table over staring at him.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose like an old man to stave off the Oikawa-induced headache he felt forming. It was only the first class of the day, in other words, way too early for this crap.

“Oh, Iwai-chan. Don’t be so depressed,” Oikawa said in an cheery undertone, so the girls wouldn’t be able to hear. He scraped uselessly at some seedpods with the knife. “It’s not like you had a shot with them anyway.”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes.

“Get up moron. Let’s go get some fire seeds.”

When the seeds of the Fire Seed Bush were harvested, one person had to watch and quell the flames that shot out as the other tried to pry the burning seeds from the branches. They stood by the side of the greenhouse’s lone Fire Seed Bush, waiting for the current pair to finish up. Iwaizumi leisurely examined some shockingly neon flowers that seemed to exude the scent of peppermint hot chocolate.

"Iwa-chan did you miss me last night," Okinawa suddenly breathed, hot, in his ear.

Iwaizumi felt his neck heat up, "Shut up moron."

"But I was just about to tell you something interesting. While you were diddling around with Head Boy Wonder-"

"Oikawa that was just a joke don't be so butt hurt."

"Iwa-chan!” Oikawa, gasped, voice suddenly full of fake indignation, “You know as well as I that my ass hasn't been sore since we started-"

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." Iwaizumi forcefully hissed, glancing around to make sure no one was within hearing range.

“Iwa-chan so shy,” Oikawa chuckled. Iwaizumi tamped down the urge to slam his fist into Oikawa’s face. "So while I was being my usual charming self, I found out that the Something quite interesting, about someone we both unfortunately know too well.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Wait for it... it’s so good... [Iwaizumi stepped on his foot] ow! Fine, it’s Ushiwaka!"

"No way!"

"Yes! Apparently, instead of skipping his last year of school since he went pro, as was reported in the _Daily Prophet,_ he elected to finish up his schooling. So you know what that means-"

"Yeah. Yeah I do," Iwazumi replied, the gears in his head already whirring into action. Oikawa was still looking at him, one of his rare, genuine smiles gracing his face.

Iwaizumi could almost taste the promise of victory in the air.

\------

It wasn’t that Hinata’s day had gone badly. It was more-so the fact that school just wasn’t his thing, and despite it being only halfway through the first day, he felt like his brain had been exposed to a year’s worth of knowledge already. It didn’t seem to matter that they had been preparing for their O.W.L.s intensely since fourth year, the teachers were _damned_ strict right now. Hurrying down the front steps of the school, he clenched and unclenched his hand, trying to chase away the ache that had settled into his joints after hours of rapid note taking.

It was a gorgeous afternoon, to Hinata’s immense delight. It was sunny, but not hot. There was a tepid stillness to the air; perfect weather for flying. As Hinata’s feet hit the pavement, then the grass, his steps began to quicken, until he was running, full speed, to the broom shed. He hurriedly unlocked it with the proper unlocking spell, then grabbed his Cleansweep Fifteen off the wall, checking it over lovingly. It had been unused for most of the summer, besides the one week Kouji had invited him and Izumi to stay in the middle of July. The rest of the time it had remained in Hinata’s room, where he had cleaned and polished it many times despite its disuse. Therefore, he knew it was in great physical shape, but he still checked it over, carefully, very carefully, before he deemed it worthy of use. He donned his Quidditch gloves and headed back outside to the Qudditch pitch, the anticipation sweet in his stomach.

His plans were brought to a halt, however, when he caught sight of a black blur speeding around the pitch so quickly and intensely it seemed to slice through the air. Hinata felt a mild panic grip his body. No human, even on a broom, moved that fast or fluidly. Hinata’s seeker’s eyes honed in on the dark streak after a few seconds, and he realized, with a jolt to his entire being, that it was, in fact, a person. He recognized the sleek black hair that seemed to meld with the ebony of the broomstick, the long, sturdy form that his gaze had involuntarily been drawn to, last night and this morning, in the Great Hall.

Hinata fumbled uselessly in place for a few seconds, before squaring his shoulders and walking into the middle of the pitch. It only took a few moments before the black shape was hurtling towards him, drawing to a stop a few feet away.

Kageyama Tobio looked at Hinata, his entire being steady and solid, his windswept hair the only indication he had been traveling hundreds of miles per hour mere seconds beforehand. Something began to bubble underneath Hinata’s skin that felt hot and itchy and suspiciously similar to jealousy.

“If you were wanting an autograph, I don’t do them,” said the other boy, almost angrily, and Hinata felt his own anger begin to prickle up at the presumption. He watched as Kageyama dismounted cleanly, his eyes glancing at the broom, before doing a double take.

“Holy shit! Is that a Black Crow?!” Any prior feelings of envy or fury completely vanished. Hinata’s eyes eagerly ran over the form of the entirely black broom held in the other boy’s hands.

“I saw pictures of it in Kouji’s Quidditch Quarterly magazine! Didn’t it just come out last week. Wow, how did you even _get_ that? The article said even professional Quidditch players were having trouble getting onto the waitlist.” A scowl formed on Kageyama’s face.

Hinata’s eyes sparkled as they greedily ran over every inch visible to his eyes.

“They said it even has ground Antipodean Opaleye Dragon scales mixed into the paint, to help with heat retention and anti-splinter resistance, not to mention the beautiful aesthetic luster is also lends to the overall appearance. Do you think it really helps out in the performance? They also-“

“Do you always ask strangers this many questions?”

“Oh!” Hinata jumped back, startled out of his worshipful commentary. “Sorry, about that. Heh.” He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “I’m Hinata Shouyou,” he held out his hand, which Kageyama eyed distastefully for a moment, but then firmly gripped, and shook. Kageyama took a step back, seemingly about to mount his broom again, before Hinata’s voice stopped him.

“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” Kageyama’s eyes widened in surprise, and they whipped to look at Hinata’s face fully, as though searching for something.

_His eyes are so blue._

Not bright, Hinata thought, like the morning sky above them was, but deep, dark inky pools of midnight. The iridescent sheen of a crow’s wing flying over an endless ocean.

“Kageyama Tobio,” the other boy finally said, for some reason averting his eyes as he swung his leg over his broom.

“Nice to meet you Kageyama.”

The eyes shot back to his face, searching, studying… Hinata fidgeted. “Uh. So I want to fly also. I hope you don’t mind. It’s just that we’re supposed to technically only practice flying in the pitch, so I don’t really have anywhere else to go. And I didn’t really get to fly all summer so I’m dying to-”

“Just don’t get in my way,” inturrupted Kageyama, before abruptly kicking off from the ground, soaring upward, leaving Hinata to stare. Vexation at the comment flared up and tapered off as he watched Kageyama begin to travel across the sky because _oh… that’s what grace looked like._

Hinata mounted his own broom and kicked off, hard, and instantly he was soaring up high, the wind rushing in his ears, weightless, and finally _, free._ He shot through the air, turning, swerving, diving. The whole time he was mildly aware of Kageyama’s position in the pitch as he flitted in and out of his peripheral vision. Mostly his mind, his entire being, was focused on cutting through the open space, air parting behind him like invisible wings. After a good ten minutes of free flying Hinata stopped his broom at the very top of the field, and pulled a handful of tiny glass balls, no bigger than marbles, from his pocket. They sparkled in the sunlight, as beautiful as bubbles or butterfly wings. Hinata took out his wand and tapped each one, then dropped them from his palm. The tiny orbs immediately disappeared from sight, Hinata’s eyes scanning the area to relocate them.

They were Seeker’s marbles, a personal invention he had spent all of last year perfecting. Each marble coordinated with a color of the rainbow. Every few seconds, the marble would flash that color. The user had to catch the marbles in order, and as they went down the line, from red to violet, the speed of the remaining marbles increased. Last year he had only been able to catch the entire set once (but he told himself that was because he had only completed them with two weeks left of school, not because his seeking skills were subpar).

Hinata caught a bright glimpse of red toward the bottom of the goal post and set off, trying to keep his eyes and senses open for the next flash.

A little while later, he was hunting for the yellow one when he realized that Kageyama was flying alongside him, not exactly head to head, but a little behind. He pulled short, and looked at the other boy questioningly.

“Why are you following me?”

Kageyama’s look was so intense Hinata subconsciously leaned back.

“What is that?”

“What is what?”

“That.”

“What?”

Kageyama huffed like Hinata was an imbecile

“That thing you’re doing!” Kageyama barked.

“Um,” Hinata hesitated. He knew he had the right to be mad, but mostly he was just very confused, and he had the feeling Kageyama was one word away from an internal explosion. “What thing am I doing?”

“The lights idiot! The lights!” Kageyama gestured violently to Hinata’s left and Hinata looked and saw the indigo marble flash several yards away.

_Wow. Even during a conversation his skills are so honed he can instantly locate the lights._

“Oh,” Hinata looked at Kageyama, who was staring at him intensely again. It was almost intimidating, but also sort of pissed him off, “Hey! Don’t call me an idiot.”

“Whatever. Fine. What are they?”

“Uh,” Kageyama’s unwavering look was unnerving. His eyes no longer looked like midnight, more like the overwhelming fathomless depths of a black hole, “they’re just this thing I invented last year to help me practice.”

“You invented?” Kageyama gave him a calculating look, and Hinata tried not to fidget. Kageyama glared at him, hard, and Hinata involuntarily steeled his body in preparation for whatever was coming.

“Let me practice with you.”

“Eh?!”

“You would be stupid to turn me down. Seeking against someone, especially of my skill level, would improve your game.”

“Gah!”

“What?”

_You’re one of the most arrogant jackasses I’ve ever met._

“Nothing. Fine. So how it works is-”

“I was watching you, I get the gist of it.”

“Well, then,” Hinata stated, before suddenly streaking off. He laughed to himself as he heard Kageyama cursing him. Hinata’s eyes darted around, looking for the flash of yellow light. His senses were on high alert, tension tight in his body from the challenge of an opponent. Hinata saw the yellow flash go off near the top row of the teachers' seating area. He grinned and took off.

Almost forty minutes later Hinata and Kageyama trudged back to the castle, sweating and in something akin to a companionable silence. They had gotten through the entire spectrum of colors, with much cussing and broom checking, and (though neither would admit to it) laughter.

As they walked through the front doors, Hinata checked his watch. “Ah, just enough time to shower and eat a quick lunch before class.”

“Hm,” he looked up to see Kageyama give a glaring squint to the wall.

“Um-”

“Nice practice,” Kageyama said finally, almost hesitantly, but without any of the malice or irritation that seemed to have hid behind most of his words the entire time. It could have been a trick of the light shining through the large windows, but Hinata thought he saw a tinge of pink on Kageyama’s cheeks. Before Hinata could get a closer look, Kageyama turned and walked away without another word.

For some reason, as Hinata stared after his retreating form, Hinata’s own cheeks felt a little warm.

\----

Bokuto was on a mission—super stealth, super sleuth, hide-in-the-shadows important. It was a self-appointed operation, which was why he had to take it all the more seriously. He was currently crouched behind the black suit of armor in the fourth floor corridor, the one next to the painting of the sad gargoyle.

“Status report, sir!” Darius said, appearing out of the wall beside him.

“Darius get down!” Bokuto hissed. Darius was the ghost of a fat old man that Bokuto had met in third year when he had caught the apparition trying to make out with the life-sized portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw while she slept. After assuring the ghost he wouldn’t tell a soul, living or dead, the two had struck up a sort of friendship. Bokuto benefited because Darius was a very bored ghost without scruples and was willing to spy on people when asked. Darius benefited because he could be as freely perverted and disgusting around Bokuto as he wanted, which he had long ago been shunned for by the other ghosts. Apparently, even after death, people still didn’t take well to that sort of behavior.

The ghost half melted into the floor so only his upper torso remained in sight. “Class is about to be let out. The Snowy Egret is sitting near the door, next to that hot piece of Slytherin ass that likes to wear short Muggle skirts without anything underneath on really hot days. They’ll probably be the first to exit.”

“Fantastic,” breathed Bokuto, eyes glued to the door. He bit his lip, trying to contain the excited adrenalin that was brewing in his veins. “You should go now. If that girl from Slytherin sees you around, she’ll probably report you. What with the whole, not-being-allowed-within-100-yards-of-her rule and all.”

“Good idea sir. No skirts in sight, so there’s no point in sticking around,” the rest of Darius's body disappeared into the floor. Bokuto hummed to himself, trying to wait patiently, mentally willing the classroom door to open faster. He heard a cough behind him.

“Darius I’m serious! You need to go!” He whisper hissed, turning around to give the ghost an annoyed look. His eyes landed on a pair of warm hazel eyes a few inches from his own, _real eyes_ , set in a very real face. Bokuto blinked.

“HOLY SHIT!” he screeched, just as the door to the classroom opened. Before he could think about what he was doing, he grabbed the person’s hand and hauled them to their feet, dragging them into the empty classroom across the hallway and shutting the door. He peeked out of the viewing glass set high on the frame and gave a relieved sigh to see the first person only just stepping out of the room.

“So what are we looking at exactly?” a voice said, and he turned his head to see the ash-blond boy standing next to him on tip toes so he could look out of the glass panel as well.

“Damn it get down! Two people draws more attention than one!" Bokuto ducked, dragging the kid down to the floor to crouch beside him. He gave the boy an incredulous look. “What are you doing?! Why were you next to me in the hallway?”

“Oh. Well. I wasn’t sure if something was going to happen. This castle is pretty funny. Like that staircase with the vanishing middle step. Or how some of the statues here have really grabby hands. I thought maybe there was something suspicious about the hallway and decided to wait it out with you and see what it was,” the boy said cheerfully, seemingly oblivious to Bokuto’s anxiety.

Bokuto squinted at the guy, examining his face as he grinned. He seemed innocent enough.

“Hm. Fine. No there’s nothing wrong with the corridor.”

“Oh that’s good to hear,” the boy said agreeably, his expression very inviting and serene. “So, what were you doing then?”

“Huh? What? I wasn’t doing anything. Nothing. So, uh what’s your name anyway?” Bokuto babbled. The boy didn’t react to Bokuto’s bumbling, just smiled and hummed pleasantly, slightly rocking back and forth on his toes as though without a care in the world.

“I’m Sugawara Koushi, but everyone calls me Suga. What’s your name?”

“Oh yeah. You were introduced at the feast. I’m Bokuto Koutarou. Hufflepuff. Nice to meet you! I’m a seventh year as well. If you need any help getting around, I’m your man!” Bokuto boasted.

“That’s extremely nice of you. Well, since there’s no reason to stay in here since the corridor is safe let’s go outside," he rose. "Hey look, there’s Akaashi!” Suga announced brightly, yanking the door open. If he saw Bokuto’s eyes bug out, he gave no indication of noticing.

“Akaashi! Over here!” Suga called happily to the pretty-eyed teen that was just about to walk across the doorway.

“Oh, good afternoon Sugawara-san.”

“Hi, Akaashi. Just get out of class?” Suga asked, as the boy stopped in his tracks.

“Yes. What are you doing in that classroom?” Akaashi questioned. His eyes traveled to look behind Suga at Bokuto. Bokuto tried to sustain a neutral countenance as his brain went through a minor meltdown and his heart began to wildly jump in his chest.

“Ah. Nothing. I was just on my way to the Owlery,” Suga gave a bright smile. “Oh, before I forget, this is my new friend, Bokuto Koutarou. Bokuto, this is Akaashi Keiji. He’s a sixth year, though you probably already knew that,” Suga added offhandedly to Bokuto, who was too busy fighting his inner battle to process the comment.

“Nice you meet you.” Akaashi directed at Bokuto. Bokuto gave a weak wave in reply, mouth unable to open.

“Well, I've just had a brilliant idea. Why don’t we all go grab dinner together right now? Talk about the joys of our first day here at Hogwarts,” Suga suggested, stepping out of the classroom.

“That’s fine, but weren’t you about to go to the Owlery?”

“Oh, well I’ve suddenly found something much more interesting to do. Let’s go get some food. Bokuto, shall we?” Suga turned his head and delivered a thousand watt smile at Bokuto, leaving the so-far-speechless teen no choice but to follow.

The two transfer students chatted while Bokuto trailed a little behind them, trying to figure out how he gotten into such a mess after hours of planning. He wrung his hands out as they got closer to the Great Hall, resisting the urge to run to the bathroom to check his hair.

“Bokuto, where would be best to sit, you think?” Suga asked as they entered the dining room.

“Um, eh,” he rasped, then paused to clear his throat, “uh, we can sit at my house table. Us Hufflepuffs aren’t territorial.”

“Excellent! Lead the way please.”

Bokuto led them to the Hufflepuff table, taking a seat toward the end closest to the door. It may or may not have been a reassurance for himself, in case he needed to make a quick getaway.

He sat down.

“Oh! Wait. Akaashi switch sides with me, I’d like to look out the south facing window while I eat.”

“Ok,” Akaashi agreed, and Bokuto could almost feel his palms begin to sweat as Akaashi sat next to him, his robe sleeve accidentally brushing against Bokuto's arm.

“What’s so great about looking in that direction?” Bokuto asked, curious despite his current dilemma. In all his seven years at Hogwarts, he had never paid attention to the windows in the Great Hall.

“I have this notion it’s a prime bird watching spot at the moment.”

“I didn’t know you were into bird watching Sugawara-san,” commented Akaashi, as he began to cut up the steak on his plate.

“Well, it’s actually a newly developed hobby. Only discovered my interest in it recently. Just today, in fact,” Suga gushed with a glowing smile.

“Hmm,” Akaashi acknowledged thoughtfully.

“What made you pick it up?” Bokuto asked, reaching for the pitcher in front of him to fill his goblet.

“Ah. See. I happened to be traipsing along during my free block, looking for something to do, when I stumbled across a rather amusing sight.”

“Which was?” Akaashi prompted politely.

Suga looked carefully at his plate, as though considering which bite of food to take next, “An oversized owl seemed to be trying to figure out how to court a snowy egret.”

Bokuto promptly choked on his pumpkin juice.

A coughing fit ensued.

“Ah, Bokuto-san are you alright?” Akaashi asked, reaching over and thumping his hand across Bokuto’s back in an attempt to help. Bokuto only wheezed harder.

“What was even more intriguing,” Suga went on as if Bokuto wasn’t about to hack out a lung across from him,” is this owl seemed to be desperate enough to try to evoke other worldly aid.”

Bokuto truly thought he was about to suffocate.

“Anapneo,” Suga said calmly, pointing his wand at Bokuto, and blessed air flew down Bokuto's throat.

“Bokuto you should really drink slower, choking can be fatal,” Suga chided gently. Bokuto looked at him, shell-shocked. Suga smiled blandly back at him.

“How does an animal evoke other worldly aid?” Akaashi questioned.

“Such is the wonder of magic. Anyway, I felt so bad for this owl, that I felt the need to intervene and bring him into contact with the egret. And now, I’m hoping to catch a glimpse of my hard work paying off.”

“Trust you, Sugawara-san, to extend your kindness to wild animals,” Akaashi mused as Bokuto made some sort of choking noise next to him.

“I guess I’m just a sucker for love,” Suga replied with a dreamy smile.

Bokuto felt accurate in his assumption that he was currently dining across from Tom Riddle incarnate.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, hi, hi. *sprinkles cornish pixie dust* I love to hear your thoughts/comments/reactions! HP FANS UNITE!


	3. The DaiSuga Relationship Coalition

Yaku pushed open the library door and walked to the back left corner where Professor Sadayuki had told him the student in need of Charms tutoring would be waiting. When he got to the corner Yaku stopped short.

A giant stood in front of him: Hair white as sun-lit snow. Pale skin stretched over impossibly long limbs. Jade eyes stared back at him, sharp with a natural slope, that made them look eerily dangerous.

Yaku was reminded of the time when he was five and had accidently wandered across a snow leopard in the tundra. His family had traveled to Sibera on one of his father’s research trips. The land had been stark, the air bitingly cold, sky inevitable and endless. One night the moon had shone, round and full, a phosphorescent destination that child-Yaku had longed to visit. So he had slipped outside while his mother and father were busy drinking tea and discussing notes by the fire. He had run, tiny legs stumbling and sliding along icy patches in the moonlight, until he arrived at the bottom of a gigantic ice hill. At the crest a snow leopard had perched, staring at Yaku, eyes unblinking. It had been beautiful and majestic and so dazzling that Yaku had known that if he made the wrong move he would be dead. Yaku stilled, just as he had then, feeling like he was trapped in a monster’s gaze.

Then the giant opened his mouth.

“Holy crap! You’re _so_ tiny! Are you really the Ravenclaw keeper?”

Yaku had never cast a Langlock jinx so quickly in his life.

After walking around the castle for a good ten minutes to cool off, he returned to the library on the off-chance that the offensive troll was still there. He had planned to just head back to his dormitory, but the squeak of his over worn shoes against a patch of wet stone on the floor had reminded him he really _needed_ the money that tutoring would provide.

Luckily, the oversized oaf hadn't left. He was sitting, no longer looking like a wild animal but resembling an over boiled noodle slumped across the table dejectedly, legs so long they extended past the chair on the other side. Yaku cleared his throat. The kid looked up, eyes suddenly full of joy.

“Finite Incantatum,” Yaku recited, waving his vine wood wand.

“Wow, thanks!” The giant said gratefully, as though Yaku hadn’t been the one to jinx him in the first place. “I was about to do it myself, but then realized I couldn’t say anything.”

“Yeah, well. You still want to be tutored or what?”

“Yes! Sorry about that. Yamaguchi told me not to mention your hei-”

“Haiba Lev right?” Yaku interrupted loudly, settling into the chair to the left of him. He pulled out his materials and set them on the table.

“Yup. Nice to meet you. I already know who you are, Yaku-san.” Lev bounced in his chair, seeming to forget, or possibly not realize, the massive weight of his own body. The chair groaned beneath him.

“Right. Well. Let’s get to work.”

Yaku soon realized that Lev wasn’t a bad student for lack of trying. In fact, it was exactly the opposite; if anything he tried _too_ hard. It didn’t matter whether Lev knew the right charm or incantation to recite, he was going to attempt to solve any and all problems with or without the proper knowledge.

Yaku pointed at the tattered remains of a book Lev was supposed to have used a Concealing Charm on. “Reparo.”

“That was a standard third year spell. How do you not know it already?”

Lev didn’t seem bothered by the slightly insulting insinuation. Instead he grinned good-naturedly, quill sticking out of the side of his mouth like a brazenly decorated cigar.

“At my old school we didn’t really focus on Charm work, it was an elective. ”

“But Akaashi told me he was in advanced Charms at your old school,” Yaku replied, remembering his conversation with the sixth year transfer student.

“Ah, well I’m talking about my old, old school. I only just transferred to S- er, I mean, the other school last year. So this is my second year in a row transferring,” Lev said, as he tapped his wand against the book. It suddenly burst into flames.

“Aguamenti!” Yaku cried, before the fire could transfer to the wooden table. “Ugh.”

He stared at the soggy, burned remains of the book. “Let’s call it a day.”

“Sure, Yaku-san! Thanks for the lesson. I feel like I really learned a lot.” Lev shoved his possessions haphazardly into his bag, then pushed back from the table, chair screeching loudly against the tile. Yaku cringed.

The shorter boy packed up his own items much more carefully. He quickly cast a Hot Air Charm on the book, then picked up the dried, decimated remains, and tossed them into the trash bin in the corner. He turned to see Lev still standing there, bouncing in place, and Yaku realized he was waiting for him. Shrugging to himself, he walked out of the library, Lev in tow.

“So do you think I show promise?”

_Oh yes. Setting books on fire in a library is extremely promising._

Yaku looked up at Lev, who was beaming down at him, expression so earnest and eager the sarcastic reply shriveled up and died on his tongue like an unfortunate worm caught by the scorching sun.

“Uh. You’re very enthusiastic.”

“Great! I’m glad to hear that.” Lev started to chatter to Yaku about his time so far at Hogwarts: how fascinating everything was, how fun the people were, and how funny it was, when yesterday, he had almost tripped when a cat had ran in front of him while walking. Apparently he had put his hand onto a painting of some fat lady’s bosom. Now, whenever he walked by her, she would wink at him and giggle. Lev seemed enormously pleased by this.

_He’s not really like a snow leopard. More like a large, oversized Labrador dog. The kind that is just on the brink of adulthood, but still unused to properly using its lengthy, gangly limbs. The kind that spends hours chasing a ball, and then, when you’re tired of throwing it, starts begging you to throw it just one more time. But then he forgets it’s just one more time and bugs you again._

_And again._

_And again._

_And again._

_Until you want to strangle him, but then, you really can’t because he’s just an overgrown puppy, and who in their right mind would strangle a puppy?_

“Doesn’t that sound amazing?!” Lev’s exuberant voice practically shouted.

_Look up “Haiba Lev” in the dictionary and the definition would be “exasperatingly overenthusiastic with a resemblance to an unbaked jumbo pretzel”._

“Uh, yeah. Sure,” Yaku commented offhandedly, mentally chuckling to himself at his exceedingly lame joke while wondering if there would be steak and kidney pie at dinner.

“Great! It’s a date!” Lev exclaimed, practically jumping up and down in excitement.

“Wait, what-”

“Ah! I forgot to feed Wolfgang! He gets cranky when he’s hungry. Bye, Yaku-san! Don’t forget, midnight in the Astronomy Tower on Saturday,” Lev called, vanishing rapidly thanks to the speed of his long legs.

Midnight in the Astronomy Tower.

There was only one thing outside of class that students went to the Astronomy Tower for at midnight.

No. No way. There was no possible way Lev had just asked to him to a make out session as casually as though had been asking him over for a cup of tea.

Yaku thought back to the first words Lev had blurted out to him.

Then again…

“Oh, shit.”

\------

Yamaguchi tried to take his time packing his books when the bell rang. He didn’t want to seem overtly eager, but the next class was Divination with Ravenclaw. He trailed a little behind Lev and Shibuyama as they discussed Quidditch. He furtively tried to smooth over his hair as he caught sight of it in the reflection of the window.

As they climbed the stairs of the North Tower, Yamaguchi’s heart started to jerk about in nervous anticipation. He hated this side of himself: his body betraying him as though he were some love struck preteen pining after the most popular boy in school. When he entered the classroom his eyes immediately roamed the area, zeroing in on a head of pale blonde hair. He swallowed and made his way over.

“Hi Tsukki,” he said, settling onto the pouffe next to the tall Ravenclaw. Tsukishima gave a grimace of his mouth in acknowledgement, but didn’t look up or stop writing on the parchment in front of him. Yamaguchi knew better than to interrupt. He pulled out a small green book and began reading. There was still maybe five minutes until class officially began. Yamaguchi felt very content reading in the half-light of the afternoon sun filtering in through the glass windows, Tsukishima next to him concentrating on his own work. The faint, smoky smell of sweet herbs lent the room a dreary atmosphere. It was all very cozy and possibly veering toward _domestic._

“What’s that book you keep reading?”

Yamaguchi looked up to see Tsukishima staring at the cover, idly examining it. Yamaguchi bit his lip.

“It's about the origin of the wiggentree and its various magical uses throughout history-”

“Fine,” Tsukishima replied, voice neutral, and since Yamaguchi’s favorite pastime was to decode Tsukishima’s nuances, he knew Tsukishima was fully aware he was being lied to. Though whether he didn’t pry because he was being considerate of Yamaguchi’s privacy or just flat out wasn’t interested was what Yamaguchi couldn’t interpret. He wasn’t sure which was worse: lying to someone close to you who cared, or lying to someone close to you who didn’t care. His mind was prone to spiraling into a morbid, sad place full of self-doubt, especially when it came to Tsukishima.

Though, who was he kidding? It was always like that.

Yamaguchi pocketed his book.

“Alright, let’s get settled everyone,” Professor Shimada announced as he walked into the classroom. Yamaguchi liked Professor Shimada. He was personable and nice, and he had a tree’s patience, as evidenced by last year’s Divination class with Gryffindor, in which Hinata and Inuoka had broken over a dozen crystal balls between them.

“Bloodletting is a practice that has been in use throughout history in both the magical and non-magical world. It started out as a medical practice. The patient would have blood removed in order to rid the body of the “bad” blood that was thought to contain sickness or disease. In the present day, this method is rarely utilized in the magical community. Currently, it’s most common application is in rituals of Dark Magic used to summon evil spirits or forces, something I hope none of you will ever choose to practice.” The class was silent at this last bit of information. A side-long glance at Tsukishima told Yamaguchi the taller boy found this topic interesting. His face gave off an distinct aloofness, but one brow was slightly raised above the other while his head was marginally tilted to the right. Tsukki’s normal expression during Divination was typically an I-am-one-step-away-from-being-bored-and-leaving blankness. “However, bloodletting can also be used in the art of Divination. It’s an uncommon practice, often frowned upon because of the negative association it has with the Dark Arts. That is purely an unfortunate stereotype. Today we’re going to practice bloodletting as an amplifier for water scrying. We’ll be switching a sad memory for a happy one.”

A few minutes later, Yamaguchi tried to concentrate on the task at hand. He held his thumb over the bowl of yew tree dewdrops.

_Prick my finger and let a few drops fall in as I think of a bad memory._

Yamaguchi choose the time when his first cat, Momiji, had died.

“Ok, Tsukki I’m done, are you ready?” Tsukishima nodded and they exchanged bowls. Yamaguchi glanced nervously at Tsukishima, hoping that this worked properly and Tsukishima would see a happy memory of his, not the actual one of his cat dying. Even if he had only been seven, he didn’t want Tsukishima to see him bawling his eyes out.

Yamaguchi picked up the fragment of fire quartz that Professor Shimada had passed out, and dropped it into the cup. Immediately, dark red smoke started billowing upward. Yamaguchi plunged his head into the thick vapor, staring hard at the surface of water. He was more than a little eager to see a memory of Tsukishima’s. Tsukishima wasn’t exactly the most open in regards to his personal life.

He squinted as shapes started to form, blurry and indistinct, then quickly becoming clear, and suddenly he saw Tsukishima, maybe around eight-years-old or so, flying on a broomstick. His brother, Akiteru, hoovered a few feet in the air across from him. Yamaguchi felt his curiosity sky rocket; Yamaguchi had only seen pictures of Akiteru. From the forced tone Tsukishima spoke in when asked of his brother, Yamaguchi had gotten the distinct impression they weren’t on the best of terms. But here was an image of a happy, smiling Tsukishima, his face full of childish adoration for his brother. Yamaguchi leaned forward, willing the water to show him more, greedy for just another glimpse into Tsukishima’s private life…

The image transformed. He saw Tsukishima, no longer young, but as he was now, skin white as paper, laying washed up on a river bank. Yamaguchi’s eyes widened in shock because Tsukishima’s eyes were closed and it didn’t look like he was breathing. Then the image changed, showing a tiny Tsukishima, this time maybe five or so, face far too grave and serious for someone so young. A light rain pattered around him as he stared at the base of a tree where a white rose, with petals edged in scarlet, sprouted up from the shadows. A wave of sadness washed over Yamaguchi, so intense he felt like he was being crushed. He tried to pull his eyes away from the image, pull his head back from the smoke, but it was as if it had seeped into his mind, locking him in place. He was aware that he no longer could sense the Divination room or anything in it. He was frozen in place, an omnipotent observer intrusively seeing snapshots of what he could only assume were Tsukishima’s life, or what would become of it.

A series of quick images, one after the other: The back of Tsukishima’s head. In the air small butterflies, no bigger than thimbles, flew around and settled quietly in the flaxen strands. Tiny baby hands dipping into a surface of deep blue water. Tsukishima, looking older, lying in the snow, gazing up so fondly at someone unseen that Yamaguchi almost felt his heart break. Kuroo, standing with his arms on either side of Tsukishima’s head, trapping him against the flagstone wall, face leaning in…

Yamaguchi gasped out loud, head jerking away. It was like being torn from the grasp of a tornado and forced into a sudden standstill, organs still in inertia. He wheezed, taking in big gulps of air as though his lungs were starved of oxygen. He was mildly aware of a steady hand on his shoulder, a gentle hand on his back, and he turned to see Professor Shimada looking at him, not worried, but with a bit of surprise. Behind Shimada he could see the other students staring at him with bewilderment. He turned and saw Tsukishima watching him, expression unreadable.

 _Was that real? Did that really happen with Kuroo_? His heart desperately clawed at him to ask.

He held the words back.

“I’m ok,” he said instead, to Professor Shimada. Shimada nodded.

“Alright. It’s about time to pack up anyway. Class dismissed!” Shimada announced. After a few curious glances the majority of students got up, the temptation of freedom too great. Shimada waved off the Hufflepuffs that milled about, obvious concern for Yamaguchi on their mind.

“Tsukishima, I’d like to speak to Yamaguchi alone.”

“Alright.” Tsukishima got up and exited the room without a backward glance at Yamaguchi.

“Yamaguchi, what did you see?” Shimada asked him straightforwardly once they were alone. Yamaguchi opened his mouth eager to share, because really, one of those images had most definitely shown a lifeless, if not dead, Tsukishima, and that had been pretty freaky. But then… he hesitated. Everyone knew that images of the future were unreliable at best. He wanted to tell Shimada what he saw, but whatever they were, memories or visions or predictions, they were Tsukishima’s business really. Above all else he was loyal—the Hufflepuff way.

“Um, I saw some stuff about Tsukk- Tsukishima. At first it was a happy memory, like it was supposed to be. But then I saw… other things. When he was younger, and maybe older, and maybe even the same age as now. I’m not too sure,” Yamaguchi hedged, careful to be vague. Shimada tilted his head thoughtfully.

“Have you ever had visions like that before?” Yamaguchi shook his head.

“Excellent!” Shimada said genially. “When are your free blocks?”

Yamaguchi stared for a few seconds in incredulous silence. Shimada beamed at him.

“Um, Tuesday morning, Wednesday evening, and Friday morning.”

“Hmmm ok. Why don’t you meet me in my office during the Friday one?” Shimada suggested. “We’ll discuss this more then.”

“Uh, alright.” Yamaguchi waited for more information, but Shimada was already turning to his desk, obviously dismissing him. He got up to leave, but then hesitated. “Professor… is there something wrong with me?”

“Hmm? What? No! No, everything’s fine! Wonderful. I just need to gather some things to be sure… before I say anything to you… I don’t want to put suggestions into your head…” Shimada muttered distractedly as he scribbled furiously on some parchment on his desk.

“Alright,” Yamaguchi agreed, when Shimada trailed off. He felt a general curiosity as to what had happened, but mostly he just felt antsy to get down to the Great Hall because this was cutting into his lunchtime with Tsukishima. The fact that Professor Shimada didn’t seem the least bit worried was pretty reassuring as well. He climbed down the ladder from the trap door and went on his way. As he turned at the end of the hallway to begin heading down the stairs of the North Tower, he was brought to a halt by the sight of Tsukishima casually leaning against the wall.

“You waited for me?” he asked surprised.

Tsukishima simply said, "Yes."

“Sorry Tsukki,” Yamaguchi apologized.

Tsukishima shrugged offhandedly and headed down the stairs. Yamaguchi followed after, mind jumbled, unable to check the thought racing through his head, over and over.

_Did that really happen with Kuroo?_

If it did, when had that happened? Not that they were joined at the hip, but he and Tsukishima pretty much spent all their free time together. Not once had Tsukishima mentioned Kuroo to him other than to drily opine some sarcastic remark about his or Bokuto’s behavior. Yamaguchi tried to scan his brain, searching for a time when Kuroo’s name had come up in more than unconcerned passing. He found nothing.

When they entered the Great Hall, Yamaguchi followed Tsukishima to the Ravenclaw table. They always sat wherever Tsukishima chose to sit, and Tsukishima always chose to sit at his house table. Yamaguchi didn’t mind. His stomach grumbled at the sight of seasoned potatoes and eggs, sunny-side up.

“And yet another example of how survival of the fittest has failed us.” Yamaguchi looked up from his food to where Tsukishima’s attention was directed. Bokuto stood in front of the fireplace, attempting to juggle several extra-large Dungbombs. Kuroo lounged against the Slytherin table, obviously egging him on. Kuroo’s sleeves were rolled up, the lines of his muscles popping out along his forearms as he stretched languidly. Yamaguchi’s mind stuttered at the sight of the black-haired seventh year.

_Fittest?_

_As in, physically fit?_

_As in, he noticed Kuroo’s body is fit?_

_As in Tsukishima thinks about that fit body and uses it as a descriptive modifier in reference to Kuroo?_

_Is that why Tsukki is attracted him?_

Yamagachi glanced down at his own arms, which looked downright slender and pallid in comparison to Kuroo’s developed ones. Yamaguchi looked dejectedly at his eggs, which looked sadly back at him and his pitiful thoughts.

 _Don’t judge!_ he mentally snapped at them.

“And the only possible outcome of such a situation has arrived,” Tsukishima announced in a monotone as Bokuto fumbled and dropped all five of the extra-large Dungbombs. The Great Hall immediately filled with the putrid stench. Several students started gagging.

“Bokuto! Kuroo!” Daichi roared from the Gryffindor table.

Yamaguchi covered his nose, rising from the table as Tsukishima did the same across from him. They joined the rush of students fleeing toward the exit.

The front entrance was crowded as the students stopped and talked amongst themselves. They were safely outside of the range of the foul odor, but close enough to hear the wrath that Daichi was currently inflicting on the two seventh years.

“Ah!” A small voice squeaked, as someone bumped into Yamaguchi’s side. He looked down to see Yachi about to overbalance and reached out to catch her.

“Ah. Thanks Yamagufi,” Yachi sniffed, her eyes squinting to make him out as tears leaked out the sides. “I’m allerfic to dungbumfs.”

“Here.” Yamaguchi took his handkerchief out of his pocket. He bent down and put a steadying hand on her shoulder and very carefully started to dab around her eyes. Yachi stilled, hand coming up to grip onto Yamaguchi’s sleeve for stability.

“Antihistio,” Tsukishima’s voice cut in, and the redness and tears from Yaichi’s face vanished. Yamaguchi looked over to see Tsukishima pocketing his wand, face turned away.

“Ah!” Yachi said in her normal voice. “Thanks Tsukishima! Thank Yamaguchi!”

“No problem,” Yamaguchi said cheerfully as Tsukishima made a polite sound of acknowledgement.

Flashing one last smile Yachi turned and headed into the crowd.

“That was so cool Tsukki. Healing spells are difficult to master.” Tsukishima gave a noncommittal jerk of his head, brow slightly furrowed.

_Smell must have given him a headache._

“Let’s go to the front, get some fresh air,” Yamaguchi suggested. Tsukishima didn’t reply, just turned and headed toward the front door. As always, Yamaguchi followed.

\------

“Seriously, you morons, you’re supposed to be prefects! The ones who set the example for the rest of the school to follow! Do you want me to take away your badges?!” Daichi ranted the next day before the weekly prefects’ meeting. Kuroo and Bokuto sat there, drawing on a shared piece of parchment.

“Are you guys even listening?” Daichi asked as Bokuto scribbled something with a flourish.

“The answer to that should be blatantly obvious,” Kuroo replied, causing Bokuto to snort. Daichi sent them a furious glare, the effect of which had Bokuto properly wilting in contrition. Kuroo, on the other hand, smiled back charmingly. “We’re sorry, ok? Now calm down. You’re just giving yourself more old man forehead wrinkles.”

“Can you think of any valid reason as to why I shouldn’t just kick you out now before the meeting even starts?” Daichi grumbled.

“Because I add so much aesthetic value to the room?” Kuroo suggested.

Daichi sighed.

“I’m serious man. Those wrinkles won’t do you any favors when you’re currently trying to make a play for someone so far out of your league.”

Daichi froze, mild panic pinching at the back of his neck. Surely Kuroo didn’t know…

“Oh, don’t look so constipated. Of course I know. Sawamura you’re so obvious I’ve made it a point not to be seen with you anytime there’s a chance our silver haired angel will walk by. You’re my friend, so please don’t take offense, but I almost get sympathetic embarrassment from standing next to such public displays of desperation.”

Daichi cringed, his entire being willing itself to melt into a puddle of nothingness into which Kuroo would hopefully trip, fall, and drown.

“You can’t- I mean, how-” Kuroo gave him a pointed look. “Who else knows?” he asked weakly.

“Dude, don’t worry it’s not as obvious as Kuroo is making it sound. It took me a whole week to figure it out, ” Bokuto tried reassuring Daichi, which instantly had the opposite effect. If Bokuto of all people was able to notice, Daichi had little hope the entire school didn’t already know.

Daichi covered his face with his hands and groaned.

“Don’t despair. I’ll help you out. I was a virgin once too.” Kuroo offered at the exact moment Michimiya walked into the room.

There was a pregnant pause.

“Er… I’ll just come back later,” Michimiya muttered, a tinge of pink forming on her cheeks.

“No. No. Don’t go. Ignore this idiot being an idiot. He can’t help it.”

“Ah, sure,” Michimiya decidedly walked to the back of the room and sat at the table the furthest away from the boys. The blush was still high on her cheeks.

“Sorry,” Kuroo whispered to Daichi. “Bad timing. Talking about the crusher’s crush in front of the person crushing on the crusher.”

“What are you even going on about?” Daichi questioned. Kuroo looked at Daichi in disbelief.

“What? Are you being serious?” Daichi quirked a confused brow in response. “Oh. My. God. You are _so_ , dense. SO DENSE! I can’t even look at you right now. It hurts to look at someone who is so socially inept that it’s literally possible it could rub off on me from just witnessing the sheer magnitude of the ineptness. I can’t even make fun of you. This is some next level shit. It’d be like kicking Yamaguchi. Or kicking a puppy.”

“Or kicking Yamaguchi holding a puppy,” Bokuto put in.

“Not even touching this one. Your turn,” he informed Bokuto, pulling the parchment away from him to add to whatever they were drawing.

“Daichi man,” Bokuto whispered, as Ennoshita walked into the room and sat down next to Daichi. “I feel it is my obligation to tell you that Sugawara Koushi is _not_ what he seems.”

“Oh, are we talking about Daichi’s crush?” Ennoshita asked in hushed tones.

Daichi whimpered. “Et tu, Ennoshita?”

Ennoshita smiled unapologetically, deep brown eyes crinkled in amusement.

Daichi let his head fall onto the desk. “I can’t believe everyone knows.”

“I think, maybe, there’s a chance Hinata still doesn’t.” Ennoshita tried.

“Not helping.”

Daichi mentally started to compose his epitaph.

_Sawamura Daichi. Seventeen years old. Liked chess and chocolate chip cookies and Quidditch. Died of public humiliation due to his own folly while his friends stood passively on the sidelines, observing his humiliation in interest…_

“Oh, I think Michimiya might not know,” Ennoshita added as an afterthought, grimacing in her direction. “But that might just be self-preserving denial more than anything.”

“Denial of what?” Daichi inquired, momentarily distracted from his internal pity party.

Ennoshita sweatdropped. “I look up to you in a lot of ways Daichi. Please don’t make me regret it.”

Kuroo sniggered as Daichi’s brow wrinkled in confusion.

Yamaguchi and Tsukishima walked into the room. Yamaguchi almost seemed to start at the sight of the four older boys.

“Why so jumpy Yamabear?” Bokuto asked cheerily. Yamaguchi made a face.

“Hey, Yamaguchi do you like puppies?” Kuroo asked, ignoring Daichi’s death glare.

“You don’t have to answer that,” Tsukishima suddenly interjected. He sent a rather passive look at Kuroo, who for some reason positively beamed. For a split second a truly unhappy frown slipped across Yamaguchi’s face. Daichi caught the expression before the younger boy was able to smooth it out. He made a mental note to slap Kuroo upside the head for it later.

“Anyway, as I was saying, that dude is… the depths of his evil knows no bounds,” Bokuto continued in a low voice after Yamaguchi and Tsukishima walked away.

“Who are you talking about?” Ennoshita questioned, as Silvia Longbottom and Anna Clearwater walked in and sat behind Tsukishima and Yamaguchi.

“Dude, about Daichi’s man crush. We’ve already established this. Jeez, you have the attention span of a Pygmy Puff!”

“What? Sugawara evil? Are you serious? Sugawara is like, _the_ nicest person. Ever! Just this morning I saw him saving a mouse in the hallway. I mean, the guy won’t even destroy vermin! He probably grew up in a house made of gingerbread and gumdrops, located at the end of a rainbow,” Ennoshita argued. A large group of students came in from the hallway

“No, man. I’m telling you. He’s just… sneaky about it. Even sneakier than Kuroo.”

“Most people would be offended by that,” Kuroo commented.

“Most people have morals,” Daichi informed him. Kuroo smirked.

Daichi looked around and saw the room was full. “Ok, everyone’s here, let’s start the meeting.”

\------

After dinner, the older Gryffindors were enjoying a cozy evening by the fireplace. Daichi and Iwaizumi were playing a game of Wizard’s Chess. Nishinoya and Tanaka were building a spectacular card castle with Exploding Snap cards while Asahi looked on nervously. He flinched when Tanaka accidentally dropped a card.

“Come on Asa-chan, play with us! Face your fears!” Noya encouraged, tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. He placed another card on top, turning to smile triumphantly at Asahi as the entire card castle exploded.

“Damn it!” Nishonoya wailed, putting up a hand to feel the back of his head. Tanaka, who had managed to dive under the table in time, emerged and starting howling over the large bald spot on the back of Nishinoya’s head.

“Yuu come here and I’ll fix it,” Asahi offered kindly. Nishinoya walked over, his mouth turned down in a pout. When Asahi was done, instead of moving to his own seat, Nishinoya crawled into his lap, causing Asahi’s face to turn red.

“Ew. Can you two quit it. Do you have to rub it in that I’m single and alone,” Tanaka bemoaned.

“You can come cuddle too. Asahi is big enough,” Nishinoya offered, holding his adorably small arms out. Tanaka grinned and dive-bombed onto the pair, causing Asahi to grunt under the sudden addition of weight.

“Oh, us too, us too!” Hinata cried, as he, Kouji, and Izumi came scrambling over to join the pile. Asahi just grinned in defeat as the younger students piled on top of him.

Daichi snickered.

“Hey, Daichi! Don’t act like you’re above a cuddle pile! Come’re and join in. You’re the one who needs it most right now!” Nishinoya pointed out.

“Why does he need it most?” asked Hinata, whose head was pillowed in Tanaka’s lap.

“Because he’s so obviously infatuated with that that really nice transfer student,” Kouji answered with a giggle. Nishinoya was massaging his feet.

“He _is_ nice, he gave me candy the other day,” Izumi added as he started to braid Asahi’s hair.

“You like Suga?” Iwaizumi asked, eyebrow raised as he moved a pawn forward.

“How could you not know? It’s so obvious!” Tanaka laughed.

“It’s ok Iwaizumi-san, I didn’t know either!” Hinata reassured the older boy.

Daichi groaned, “I think getting caught naked in the Forbidden Forest would be less embarrassing than this.” Iwaizumi gave him a lopsided grin.

“There’s no shame in nudity!” Nishnoya stated indignantly.

“Hell yeah!” Tanaka shouted, jumping up and causing Hinata to fall to the floor. Tanaka whipped his sweater off and swung it above his head.

“Tanaka put your shirt back on,” Asahi chided gently.

“Don’t be jealous Asahi-san.” Tanaka started dancing around the table.

“Oh God. This is going south so fast,” Daichi mumbled. “Tanaka, we don’t need a strip tease.” Tanaka grinned and started to unbuckle his pants.

“Tanaka! Hentai!” Misaki Runa shouted from the table in the corner. Tanaka blushed and sat back down.

“Thank God,” Iwaizumi muttered, causing Daichi to grin.

“Man. Suga huh?” Iwaziumi continued, staying on subject much to Daichi’s dismay.

“Yes, I know. I’ve already been told he's way out of my league by more than one person,” Daichi replied in a dejected tone.

“No. It’s not that. It’s just that Suga is… uh… well, you picked a difficult one,” Iwaizumi stated vaguely. “Oh, and Checkmate.”

“Damn it!” Daichi sighed.

“Oh, I know who you guys are talking about!” Hinata cried, showing just how late he was to the party. “He _is_ really nice. He helped me with my Astronomy homework in the library yesterday.” He looked at Daichi. “Good choice, Daichi-san. He also smells nice, like flowers and stuff.”

Daichi blushed, but filed the information away for later.

“Oh, Iwaizumi you should give Daichi some pointers. You probably know Sugawara-san pretty well. And Daichi’s hopeless when it comes to dating,” Nishinoya suggested while playing with the fingers on Asahi’s right hand.

“No, I’m not,” Daichi argued.

“You kind of are.” Asahi agreed.

“Shut up, you overgrown teddy bear,” Daichi snapped. Nishinoya patted Asahi on the cheek in consolation.

“Hey, we should all help Daichi-san out,” Kouji suggested.

Nishinoya sat up excitedly. “Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea! We could start like… the DaiSuga Relationship Coalition!”

“Oh, DaiSuga! Dai. Suga. I get it!” Hinata said happily.

“Please don’t. If I ever ask any of you for anything in my life, please do not do this. Please do not try to help me out. Please act like you don’t know anything. And can we please change the subject,” Daichi practically begged.

“It’s sort of touching, how your underclassman care about you so much they’d be willing to form a club to help you,” Iwaizumi pointed out.

“We’d help you too Iwaizumi-san,” Hinata informed him. Tanaka nodded his head in agreement.

Iwaizumi smiled, genuinely touched.

“Though you don’t seem like you’d really need help,” Izumi observed.

“Huh? Why not?” Iwaizumi asked.

“Well… you’re sort of a stud,” Nishinoya said, as though stating the obvious. Everyone sitting on the couch nodded.

“Hey! So you’re saying I’m not,” Daichi asked, half-offended.

“Er-” Hinata started.

“I plead the fifth,” Tanaka stated.

The rest of them avoided eye contact.

“I hate you all,” Daichi muttered darkly. Iwaizumi chuckled.

“I’m sorry Daichi-san I didn’t mean to offend you!” Hinata wailed.

“Me either!” Izumi and Kouji said at the same time.

“We’ll bake you cookies,” Hinata offered in apology.

“Oh, I bet Sugawara bakes really nice cookies.” Izumi stated, looking thoughtful.

“He does actually,” Iwaizumi informed them.

Daichi sighed, but secretly filed that bit of information away as well.

“The DaiSuga Relationship Coalition it is!” Tanaka cheered. Everyone else cheered in agreement, aside from Daichi. Daichi just felt like banging his head against the wall.

“We should make badges,” Nishinoya suggested, causing Asahi to chuckle.

“Oh, good idea,” Hinata agreed.

“Why is it always me?” Daichi lamented to his chessmen.

“Man up son! Life’s a game that needs be conquered,” his king informed him.

Daichi picked him up and stuffed him into the pocket of his robes with a vengeance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what that last bit was LOL.
> 
> Thank you all so much for the comments on here and Tumblr. Love them to death! Seriously, you have no idea how much I love them, and seeing all the HP and Haikyuu!! fans!!!! It's exciting!


	4. Flying High

They’d been going at it for two hours straight before Kageyama called for a break. It was almost infuriating: Hinata’s stamina seemed to grow day after day. Just a week ago Hinata had, had to bug the hell out of Kageyama for a rest. Now, Kageyama was the one asking to stop. It didn’t settle well in Kageyama’s stomach.

“Yesterday, I saw pictures of last year’s Hogwarts teams,” he informed Hinata as the shorter boy guzzled water. Hinata’s orange hair was soaked with sweat, a curly tendril falling across the expanse of his forehead. Kageyama felt the startling urge to move it aside. His finger gave the slightest twitch. He squeezed his water bottle, suddenly irritated for no reason.

He’d been feeling like that a lot lately.

Hinata quirked a brow in question. “Oh yeah? And?”

Kageyama mirrored the action and raised one of his own brows. “You weren’t there?” It came out slightly quizzical.

Surprised flashed across Hinata’s eyes before a semi-unreadable expression settled over his face. “I wasn’t on the team.”

“Why not?” Kageyama asked bluntly.

“Just because alright?” Hinata grumbled. “You know it’s proper manners to not ask those types of questions to people.”

Kageyama looked at him blankly.

“And you couldn’t even begin to understand anyway,” Hinata muttered. He wiped his mouth roughly on his sleeve, clearly aggitated.

“Why wouldn’t I understand?” Kageyama questioned, brow furrowing. For some reason now feeling slightly offended. He capped his water bottle and threw it onto the bench.

“See! The fact that you can’t even begin to understand why you can’t understand proves it!” Hinata pointed out vehemently. Seeing the confused look that crossed Kageyama’s face only seemed to piss Hinata off even more. “You own a Black Crow! The most expensive broom in the world! You have branded Potter training gear! You played in the top junior Quidditch training league where they called you King of the Pitch!” Hinata rattled off in an angry tone.

“Don’t call me that!” Kageyama fiercely snarled, causing Hinata to slightly recoil, but the irritation on his face remained. “So what, dumbass? Because I’m good at Quidditch I can’t understand why you’re not on the team? You think I’ve never had to try or something? You think I was just born with this talent?” Kageyama snapped bitingly, thinking of the innumerable amount of hours he’d spent practicing throughout the years.

Kageyama’s words seemed to completely stun Hinata. “What the hell are you talking about Bakayama?” Hinata’s brow furrowed in frustration before he suddenly seemed to deflate. “It has nothing to do with talent. It’s… well… you’re _rich_.”

Kageyama looked so stupefied that if it had been any other moment in time Hinata would have died of laughter; there was even a bit of black hair sticking up in the back of his head that flapped comically in the wind. But it wasn’t any other time, it was that moment, right then: two Quidditch rivals having an earnest conversation while standing in the middle of the place they both loved best. Hinata’s balled his hands into fists as though grabbing onto all the tension in his body.

“I- I couldn’t afford a broom before, ok? That’s why,” Hinata admitted, ears turning red. “I had to save up for several summers before I was able to buy a decent one. I just got this one this past summer. I didn’t have one before.” Hinata stopped talking and avoided Kageyama’s eyes.

_All that time...he never owned a broom. Yet his abilities are at the levels they are…_

_What would Hinata be like in a few years?_

Kageyama felt a spark of curious anticipation bloom.

“Well, you have one now, so you’ll make it,” Kageyama stated as though speaking the obvious, after several moments of silence passed. Hinata’s eyes snapped to the other boy’s face, to see if he had heard correctly.

Kageyama looked back at him, expression serious. “You suck bad. Your skills are undeveloped and you lack strategy and tactical thinking-” Hinata sputtered. “-but you have impressive stamina, which is incredibly useful in Quidditch. No one knows how long a game will last. And you have natural mobility in the sky, and good reflexes with incredible speed. You fly against the Black Crow on a Cleansweep Fifteen but you’re never far behind me.” Kageyama stated this all as though his words were solid truths.

Hinata blinked. His face slowly stilled, devoid of emotion. Kageyama felt a mild panic rising. Maybe he had been too harsh.

Then–

A small smile formed on Hinata’s face, hesitant, but secretly beautiful. Rapidly it widened until Hinata was full on smiling, then beaming, straight at Kageyama. His expression displayed complete elation, his face—his entire being— radiated joy.

“Stop that!” Kageyama suddenly ordered. A different type of panic was erupting throughout his body.

“Stop what?” Hinata asked, face still sparkling with joy.

“Stop smiling!” Kageyama barked. The base of his spine began tingling in a weird way, the itchy cadence pricking up and down his back. His neck felt warm.

“Stop smiling? Seriously Kageyama?” Hinata asked, then laughed, fucking laughed at him, the grin still on his face.

Kageyama’s stomach felt funny; hot and too tight, and squeezed inside out. He tried to look away from Hinata, from that stupidly blinding grin on that stupidly goofy face. His gaze refused to budge. He reached a hand up and covered his eyes.

“Kageyama what are you doing?”

Kageyama could hear the confusion in Hinata’s voice. Could hear from the way Hinata said the words that the smile was slipping from his face, would probably disappear forever. Kageyama snuck a peek from between a crack in his fingers. Hinata was looking at him, now with a look of concern, which was somehow much worse. The only people who looked at him like that were his mother and Sugawara. Kageyama wasn’t prepared.

“Turn around!” Kageyama commanded, voice gruff. There might have been a tone of desperation to his words, but he ignored it.

“Wha- What? Are you being serious?”

“Turn around moron! Do it or I’m leaving!”

“What the hell!” Hinata ranted, but turned around obviously completely baffled. He starting muttering something under his breath.

“Stop talking!”

Hinata gave an indignant sputter, but quieted.

Kageyama took the opportunity to take a few deep breaths. He inhaled through his nose and slowly released the air from his mouth. He repeated the exercise, over and over, until the tight feeling in his body ebbed away, bit by bit.

“Uh. Can I turn back around now? This is getting weird. Not that it wasn’t weird before, but now it’s getting really, really weird.” Hinata fidgeted when Kageyama didn’t answer him right away. Kageyama ignored it, searching internally for any remaining panic. He came up empty.

“Fine.”

Hinata turned around. He eyed Kageyama for a moment, before an amused look fell across his face.

“If only the rest of the world could see how weird you are! If they knew the truth all those girls in the hallway wouldn’t giggle every time you walk by.”

“They don’t giggle,” Kageyama snapped sourly.

“Yes they do! And you encourage it by being all handsomely broody.”

_Handsome?_

His stomach gave a small squeeze. Hinata didn’t seem to notice what he had said. “This is what you look like!” He reached up and smoothed his unruly bright hair, flattening it into some semblance of Kageyama’s. His face dropped into a ridiculous disgruntled, squinty expression. Hinata cleared his throat then began speaking in a deeper voice that he obviously thought emulated Kageyama’s. “I’m Kageyama, I hate words and people. When girls try to talk at me, instead of walking away, I pretend to be angry and give a pouty glare to the wall to give them the chance to admire my body-”

“DUMBASS! DUMBASS HINATA!” Kageyama shouted, reaching out and squeezing the other boy’s head for all he was worth.

“Ow! Ow! Stop! Ow!”

The struggled for several moments. Hinata grappling with Kageyama’s superior weight. Hinata started giggling, then laughing, causing a reluctant grin to form on Kageyama’s face. The broke apart, both breathing slightly heavier than usual.

“Tryouts are in two days,” Kageyama stated.

“Yeah. You’re trying out for the Slytherin team right?”

Kageyama gave Hinata a look that clearly told him that had been a stupid question to ask.

“And we’re both going to make it?” Hinata questioned.

“Obviously.”

Hinata smiled. “Let’s make a bet.” Kageyama tilted his head in interest. “One of the parts of Seeker trials is to catch the Snitch. Whoever catches it fastest during their tryout wins. Loser treats the other to Madam Puddifoot’s during the first Hogsmeade trip next week.”

“Deal,” Kageyama said instantly. He didn’t know what kind of fare Madam Puddifoot’s offered, so he was basically going into this blind, but he would have agreed even if the prize was a piece of dry, unbuttered toast.

“Deal,” Hinata repeated, looking pleased.

\-------

Above all things, Daichi was a realist. That was why he told himself the true reason he was up early on Saturday morning to watch the Slytherin Quidditch tryouts was to cleverly scope out the future competition. Solely a tactical strategy for the upcoming season. It had nothing to do with a certain silver haired individual who was currently standing on the field below.

Of course, being the honest kind of guy he was, he had told the others his plans to attend the Slytherin tryouts. Unfortunately, honesty does not necessarily equate to intelligence, so he had failed to foresee that the others would gladly give up their chance to catch up on their week’s worth of sleep and attend the tryouts as well. So instead of being able to zone out and _strategically_ observe Sugawara all he wanted, he had to fit his captain’s role accordingly and act like he was actually coming up with a stratagem for the sake of the team. Unbeknownst to him, he was fooling no one.

“Iwa-chan it’s so early,” Oikawa lamented, flopping over to lay his head onto Iwaizumi’s leg.

“Go back to the castle then!” Iwaizumi snapped, but his words lacked force as he refrained from shoving Oikawa off of his knee.

“Ahh. Asahi-chan, may I have a sip of your tea please? I promise it will be the best indirect kiss you’ve ever had,” Oikawa sat up and gave him a brilliant smile.

Asahi’s face reddened. “Uh, sur—”

“Hey, hey, hey. Who do you think you are?!” Nishinoya growled, crawling over Asahi’s lap to put himself between Asahi and Oikawa.

“Me?” Oikawa pointed cutely at his nose, a cheerful grin crinkling his eyes. “I’m Oikawa Tooru. Voted #1 Most-Eligible-Newly-Legal Bachelor in _Witch Weekly._ ” Oikawa struck a pose, giving Nishinoya his best winning smile. “Also the past recipient of the Most Charming Smile award.”

Nishinoya squinted. Oikawa widened said smile, winking at the smaller boy for emphasis.

“Oh, yeah! I think I voted for you!” Nishinoya stated thoughtfully, then put his intimidating face back on. “But charming smile or not, hands off the goods!” He wrapped his arms around Asahi. Asahi looked like he didn’t know whether to be flattered or appalled at being referred to as merchandise. Nishinoya continued to look at Oikawa in suspicion. Oikawa beamed pleasantly back.

“Wait a minute!” Oikawa snapped his fingers as though he had just remembered something important. “I know who you are! Aren’t you Nishinoya, the Guardian Deity of Hogwarts?! Your goal keeping skills are legendary are they not?”

“Wha— who— who said that? Guardian Deity?! Ehehe— well… I don’t know if I would call my skills legendary.” Nishinoya stuttered in disconcerted flattery, waving his hands uselessly in the air. “I mean, not to say that I’m not skilled, I’m pretty good, but, ahaha, really now—”

Asahi gave rueful sigh behind him.

On the field below the Slytherin hopefuls were taking a short break. They were being very Slytherin and not conversing much amongst themselves; it was a tryout after all and every Slytherin had their individual pride on the line. Therefore, at the moment, every friend was a foe, and every foe was an obstacle that needed to be crushed.

“Eh? Kozume? You’re trying out for the team?” Goshiki laughed, catching sight of Kenma standing on the side. “You do know this is Quidditch right? A game where you have to interact with other people and rely on physical strength. You might want to look into something more suited to your personality, like Gobstones or Muggle Watching.”

Goshiki stood there with a goading smirk on his face while Kenma gave him a considering look.

“Oh... um…” Kenma replied quietly, then averted his eyes, “sorry…. what was your name again?”. Matsukawa, who was standing between them, gave a bark of laughter. Goshiki flushed red.

“Y-you! My name is Goshiki Tsutomu! Remember it well! I’m going to become the best Quidditch player in the world. Ushijima has nothing on me. H-hey! Pay attention!” he sputtered, as Kenma’s gaze wandered toward the stands. Matsukawa starting laughing uncontrollably.

“You’re fairly amusing Kozume. I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet. I’m Matsukawa Issei,” Matsukawa said to Kenma when his laughter died down. Kenma looked back over, then quickly averted his eyes to the grass.

“Hi. Nice to meet you,” he mumbled.

“Matsukawa I need your help over here.” Kuroo’s voice suddenly cut in. Matsukawa shrugged and went over to Kuroo, much to Kenma’s relief. Kenma was left to stand by himself, which he was plenty fine with.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Suga and Kageyama caught their breaths.

“Ah, intense early morning workout,” Suga commented, flopping backward onto the springy grass. Tiny beads of sweat flecked his temples. He was in a light blue pullover and black cords.

“I’m glad. He’s serious about Quidditch. A serious captain helps create a serious team,” Kageyama said sagely. He idly passed the handle of his Black Crow from hand to hand.

“Hey look, grass angels,” Suga laughed cheerfully, as he moved his arms and legs back and forth.

“Suga-san, please take this seriously,” Kageyama muttered, as the other students sitting around them began to stare.

“Oops! Sorry Kageyama. Didn’t mean to embarrass you when you have such an important audience today.”

“Important audience?”

“Oh, you know, that orange-haired kid that hasn’t taken his eyes off of you since we walked into the pitch,” Suga informed him cheerfully. He smiled at Kageyma’s eyes widening.

Suga moved his arms up and down a few more times for good measure. He stood up and checked his grass angel. “Aw, darn. The wings are all lopsided… do you think that my right arm might be shorter than my left?”

Kageyama, who had been trying to covertly sneak a look toward the group of Gryffindors without being obvious, startled. “Huh?”

Suga smiled to himself in amusement. “Oh, just wondering if there are any grass stains on my back, can you check?”

Kageyama quirked a brow, but obliged his senior. “None.”

“Oh good. Are you going to go watch the Gryffindor tryouts later?”

Kageyama’s face took on a neutral expression. “I’m watching all of the tryouts. It’s best that one knows their future opponents.

“Ah, excellent idea,” Suga agreed.

Kuroo shouted for everyone to get ready for the next exercise, and they went to line up.

\--------

“Kuroo seems to be a fairly capable captain,” Iwaizumi observed to Oikawa. “Who’d’ve thought?”

“You know Kuroo?” Daichi asked in surprise, as Tanaka wilted against him under the morning sun. Daichi looked around at his Gryffindor flock and noticed most of them were beginning to perspire under the heat as well. He took pity and cast a shade charm over their group. Hinata smiled thankfully at him.

“We’ve met through our parents before,” Oikawa explained vaguely. He tried to lean his head against Iwaizumi’s shoulder and was rewarded with a smack to the forehead. “Ow! Iwa-chan! Oh, look. They’re already done. Wow that was fast. Who’s the tall tower?”

“That’s Aone Takanobue. He’s been on the team since two years ago, so it’s not that surprising he made it. He’s pretty damn good,” Daichi told them.

“He’s known as the Iron Wall,” Asahi said grimly. Nishinoya looked at his expression, then nuzzled the top of his head against Asahi’s chin.

“The Iron Wall huh? I like a challenge,” Iwaizumi ruminated, a steady glint in his eye. He unconsciously flexed his muscles, a grin sliding along his face.

“Iwa-chan… such confidence,” Oikawa trailed off, sending Iwaizumi a rather salacious leer.

“For the sake of my eyes and everyone elses’, please try to contain your boner,” Daichi muttered. Iwaizumi’s cheeks tinged pink and he shoved his palm against Oikawa’s face.

“Ow. Iwa-chan!”

“Look Chaser tryouts!” Nishinoya exclaimed excitedly. Daichi’s eyes honed in on the field as a particular silver haired individual flew through the pitch. He unconsciously sighed as his gaze followed the beautiful Sugawara’s progress. He was pleased to note that his flying skills were excellent; steady and solid and well thought out.

He mildly wished for the possibly thousandth time that Sugawara was a Gryffindor.

A snicker brought him out of his reverie. He looked around for the source and was met with everyone staring at him. _Everyone._

“Er. Why are you all looking at me?” Daichi asked quizzically, as the back of his neck began to burn.

“Watching you blatantly drool is so much more entertaining than watching the field at the moment,” Nishinoya said cheerfully.

Words of denial were about to fall from his lips, until he noticed that everyone was now grinning at him in amusement. _Everyone._

He sighed and turned back to the front.

“I give up. Enjoy your entertainment.”

Tanaka patted his back sympathetically. “That we will, Captain. That we will.”

Seeing the results of the tryouts, in which Sugawara Koushi did, in fact, make the team, gave Daichi a wholly satisfying feeling. He felt a mixture of eager anticipation and nerve-racking excitement run through his veins at the thought of flying against his crush.

“You should go congratulate him,” Nishinoya suggested, his sharp Keeper’s eyes not missing the sparkle in Daichi’s gaze.

The truth was that exact scenario had been running through his head not one second prior. It was a fantastic idea, (at least his imagination had thought so) a very clever way to subtly introduce himself, under the guise of the Gryffindor Captain congratulating a fellow Quidditch player. Except he had quickly realized that it would have been rather odd if he had singled out Sugawara over everyone else, especially since they weren’t even formally acquainted. “Er, no. I don’t think so. That’d be too weird.”

“Oikawa and I can go too. That way it won’t look so weird, since we know him so well," Iwaizumi volunteered, as though reading Daichi’s thoughts as to why it would be so weird. Daichi brightened for a split second, before realizing he still had the same problem as before.

“No. It still won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“Uh, see. He doesn’t exactly… know me. As in, I, or we haven’t exactly met yet,” Daichi mumbled, feeling embarrassed, especially since the younger students were not-so-subtly eavesdropping. Daichi couldn’t even bring himself to slump in humiliation, he was feeling that desperate and infatuated.

“What?!” It was Oikawa of all people who expressed his incredulousness at this information. “Normally, I stay out of ordinary people’s affairs, but Iwa-chan has been keeping me up-to-date on this situation and I feel very invested.”

“Thanks?” Daichi tried not to take the “ordinary” comment too personally.

“What I’m saying is that I’ll think of a way to naturally introduce you to Suga. Suga is a close, personal friend, and not to brag, but I’m quite the expert on romance. There is no way it can go wrong. This is a good chance. Lots of couples meet through mutual friends.”

“Couples?” Daichi echoed, starting to feel completely out of his element.

“Don’t look so worried. I’ve already started to think of a plan. Trust me. I didn’t win the “Best Casanova” award in the _Skeeter Reader_ three times in a row for nothing.

“Is that supposed to be a good thing?” Daichi asked, thinking of the sketchy publication.

In answer, Oikawa sent him an award-winning smile.

\------

Hinata clenched his broomstick nervously as he sat with the other Seeker hopefuls, watching the Keeper tryouts for Gryffindor.

“Shouyou how’s your stomach?” Izumi asked from his spot beside him.

“Uh, it’s ok. The anti-sickness potion is still going strong,” Hinata replied feebly. Even though this was true, just thinking about it made his stomach want to start cramping.

“Don’t worry Shouyou, we’re all fine. Though I’m going to win, of course,” Kouji said from his other side. Izumi snorted. Most people would have found competing against their best friends nerve-wracking, but Hinata found it actually helped calm his nerves. They had agreed that there would be no hard feelings between them, no matter what the result.

What had Hinata worried was the result of the Slytherin Seeker tryouts. Kageyama had been picked, to no one’s surprise, but what had made the tryout extraordinary was that he had caught the Snitch after only a minute and twenty seconds. Hinata almost whimpered aloud, thinking about it.

He glanced toward the stands, where Kageyama was sitting next to Sugawara, watching the progress on the field. Abruptly, as though he felt Hinata’s gaze on him, his eyes shifted to Hinata. Hinata quickly jerked his head to the front, heart beating frantically.

Had he been caught?

He counted to thirty in his head before slowly peeking out of the side of his eye at Kageyama, who was back to watching the field.

“Shouyou?” Izumi’s voice drew his attention.

“What?” Hinata asked, tearing his gaze away.

“Come on, it’s starting.”

Crap! Phantom stomach cramps attacked him with a vengeance. His palms started sweating as he clenched onto the handle of his broom so hard he was sure the wood would crack. It took him a few tries to get to his feet. His legs felt like lead as he lined up on the field alongside his best friends.

Involuntarily, out of nervousness, his eyes were drawn back to Kageyama—

Who was looking right at him. Hinata started to panic again, but before he could tear his gaze away, Kageyama gave him a sharp jerk of his head, and Hinata understood it perfectly to mean, ' _Well, go win this thing then'._

Suddenly, Hinata didn’t feel so nervous.

When the whistle blew, Hinata kicked off from the ground, eyes immediately scanning the area as dozens of little Snitch-like balls zoomed around him. He was mildly aware of the other handfuls of hopefuls around him as he scanned the silver, bronze, and wooden Snitches zooming around him, looking for the magical golden one he needed.

Focus.

Hinata smoothly cut through the air, eyes intensely scanning the skies. He could do this. He’d been flying against Kageyama Tobio for the past week. His eyes roamed back and forth, trying with all their might to see a flash of gold. He flew around the pitch, searching. As he covered more area he subconsciously tried to calculate in the back of his mind how much time had passed. Had it already been a minute?

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tandy Patil lean into a dive toward the ground, and before Hinata could think, he was mirroring the girl’s actions, even though he couldn’t see the Snitch and Tandy was halfway across the field. Even though it could have been a false alarm, because he _was_ going to win.

He was moving on instinct alone, streaking toward the spot on the ground where he innately felt that Tandy was aiming for. Then his eyes honed in on the spot of gold, and he was reaching out, forcing his broom to put out another burst of speed, desperate to reach the spot before Tandy. He surged forward, Tandy’s fingers closing in on the Snitch, jumping, knocking her hand away, his hand grasping tightly, before he was pitching forward, rolling head over heel across the ground. He landed in a heap, several yards from where he first touched down, breath heaving, but he brought his hand into his line of vision, and there, wings bent, was the golden Snitch.

He chuckled weakly to himself. He felt sure his other shoulder was dislocated and the top of his head smarted, the telltale sign of an egg-sized lump rapidly forming. The side of his face burned despite the wetness of the cool grass beneath it, and as he heaved himself to his knees, he saw several bright splotches of blood dispersing along the dew drop coated grass.

He grinned at the Snitch again. He felt amazing.

Kouji landed beside him.

“Bloodly hell, Shouyou, that was incredible.”

Hinata tried to answer, but when he opened his mouth, warm liquid trickled out.

“Uh, ew. Let’s get you to Healer Longbottom before you do something like pass out from blood loss,” Izumi landed next to them, and the two boys managed to haul Hinata to his feet, where he discovered his ankle was also severely twisted, if not broken.

“Eh?” Hinata coughed, then spit out several mouthfuls of blood into the grass. “But did I win?”

“Yes you won. Congratulations,” Daichi’s voice said from behind them. He walked to the front of the trio, eyeing Hinata. “Yep, off to the Hospital Wing now. No arguments.” Daichi ordered sternly.

“Right,” Izumi agreed. “Come on Kouji let’s carry the new Gryffindor Seeker back to the castle.”

“I’m the Seeker?! I’m the Seeker!” Hinata stated excitedly, as more blood trickled out of his mouth. He spat into the grass again.

“Great Merlin is that a tooth?!” Kouji bent to look, inadvertently pulling Hinata down with him as well. Hinata looked at the red stained patch of grass to see not just one, but two of his teeth, they looked like his front ones, resting in the grass. They were stark white against the bright red blood amid the vibrant green grass. His teeth. On the grass. Bones… from his mouth. Lying in his blood…

“Uh. I feel funny,” Hinata mumbled, before he promptly fainted.

\----

Tanaka hummed to himself as he walked down the hallway, heading for the portrait of the giant fruit bowl with plans to lug back an exorbitant amount of libations for the Gryffindor celebration that was currently going on, in honor of the new Quidditch Team. He paused to scratch the chins of the dogs in the Basking Hounds portrait.

“Tanaka! What are you doing out of bed afterhours!?” Ukai’s voice cut through the hall.

“Eh. Ukai-chan, it’s only five minutes after curfew, give me a break!”

“How many times do I have to tell you, outside of the Quidditch Pitch it’s _Professor_ Ukai,” Ukai corrected him, rather disinterestedly, as he stopped to pet the hounds as well. The brown spotted one wolfed in delight. Ukai had on a ratty sweater and old slacks and as he got closer, Tanaka could smell that he reeked distinctly of his signature cigarette smoke.

“Oops. Sorry Ukai,” Tanaka said distractedly as the white hound he was petting showed her belly.

“Detention for you!” Ukai snapped. “Starting now, come on.”

“Wha-? Ukai-chan that’s so unfair! Why are you doing this?!” Tanaka asked bewildered, despite following obediently after him.

“I need some filing done. I already have one student who volunteered to help, but frankly it’s too much for one person to handle. You’re the first unfortunate rule-breaking soul I happened to stumble across on my watch, so therefore, you’re the unlucky victim.”

“Ukai! We’re celebrating the formation of the team here! As Head of House, don’t you want us to start the season well? Giving your best Beater detention so that he misses the party is just plain cruel!”

Ukai stopped. “Oh. Hmm. Well, when you put it like that… I guess I can find someone else to help the rather _pretty,_ seventh year and tell her that she’ll just have to wait even longer for me to find a partner to work with her, _alone_ , in my classroom. All night. Just the two of them. Right. Ok, as you were.” Ukai made as though he were going to walk off.

Tanaka stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Now, now, now _Professor_ Ukai, maybe I was a bit too hasty. You did catch me sneaking out, after all.”

“Oh? But what about the party?”

“Party? What does it hurt to skip a party here or there? There will be plenty in my future, I’m a popular dude. But helping out my favorite Professor? What a rare opportunity.”

“Well… I don’t want to force you...” Ukai scratched the side of his head as though ruminating.

“Come on man, you know your best Beater is always down to help! Of course I’d be happy to file for you! Lead the way Professor!”

Ukai walked to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Tanaka now whistling good-naturedly behind him.

 _Too easy._  Ukai shook his head in amusement.

“Well you can just go in yourself. Filings not hard to figure out.”

“Yessir!” Tanaka saluted Ukai and pushed the door open, entering the room.

Stacks of papers were stacked all along the front desk, floor, and the majority of the student desks. Tanaka’s eyes roamed the classroom for the pretty girl, but came up empty. He waited a few seconds, but nothing stirred aside from the torches lining the walls. He’d obviously been tricked.

“Damn it, Ukai!” Tanaka cursed, turning and grabbing the doorknob. He tried to push the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. “And locked me in here too!”

“Excuse me. It opens inwards, not out. So you have to pull, not push,” a soft, very feminine, very _pretty_ sounding voice said behind him. He swiveled around to see Kiyoko Shimizu’s head popped up from behind Ukai’s desk.

“Uh.” Tanaka’s mind went blank.

“Oh, wait. Perhaps you’re here to help me file? Professor Ukai said he was hopefully going to find another volunteer.”

Tanaka robotically jerked his head up and down in a nod.

“That’s good. I have several categories sorted out already. Each one is on a desk. If you could just alphabetize them according to the author’s last name, that would be great.”

Another jerky nod.

“Thank you. I’ll work on getting more categories sorted out in the meantime.”

Tanaka gave a weak smile and another nod of his head.

Kiyoko returned a small approving smile of her own, and disappeared back behind the desk. As soon as she was out of sight, Tanaka loudly let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Sorry did you say something?” Kiyoko’s head popped back up.

Tanaka’s eyes bugged out, but he managed to shake his head in the negative, waving his arms frantically in the air for emphasis.

“Oh, ok then,” Kiyoko disappeared.

He let out his breath quietly this time. “Holy shit! Holy shit! I’m in a classroom, alone with Kiyoko Shimizu!” He frantically whispered, very softly, to himself. “Remain calm. Ok Tanaka, stay cool man, stay cool.” He thumped his chest for good measure. “Can’t mess this up. Gotta stay cool.”

\------

At around midnight that same night, one man found himself standing outside in the cold night air. The stars were beautiful brilliant winks of light, vast and ever-reaching across the quiet expanse of sky. It was peaceful. Heavenly even, the kind of sight that master painters spent their lives trying to capture and translate onto canvas. A perfect, breath-taking, soul-soothing sight.

Or it would have been. If Yaku wasn’t currently freezing his ass off in the Astronomy Tower of all places, where frigid gusts of winds continually kept blowing through the open room.

He didn’t know what the hell he was even doing up there anyway. He couldn’t afford to be breaking any school rules. He should have been in bed, warm, and safe, falling asleep to the sound of Ennoshita’s funny whistling snores. Instead he had been standing there, in the teeth chattering cold, for fifteen minutes now. He grumbled, and checked his watch. He really, really should just go back to Ravenclaw Tower. But what if Lev, showed up right after he left? Then Lev, the moron that he was, would just wait, possibly all night, in the freezing cold. Yaku couldn’t have that on his conscience.

He’d wait just five more minutes. Then leave. Only five more minutes…


	5. Hogsmeade I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWO NOTES PLEASE READ  
> 1\. My writing style for this story has changed a wee bit, starting in this chapter.  
> 2\. I know the first Hogsmeade visit is supposed to be on Halloween, but in this story it is changed to be the first day of October.
> 
> Proceed!

“Yaku-san!” At the sound of his name being called by a familiar, and at the moment, extremely unwanted voice, Yaku make the impulsive decision to make an unexpected left turn and exit the castle from the Front Entrance, rather than turn right and enter the Great Hall. Unfortunately, loud footfalls thundered down the steps after him.

“Yaku-san!” the voice said again, and a large hand yanked his shoulder, rather forcefully, so that he had no choice but to spin around and face its owner. Or the belly of its owner, since he refused to crane his neck upward at the moment. “Why do you keep avoiding me?”

Yaku’s eyes narrowed into slits, momentarily forgetting to maintain his always perfectly calm and collected Ravenclaw demeanor. “Why don’t you surmise the answer to that on your own?”

“Surmise? What does that mean?” Lev’s quizzical look further fueled the low-level of annoyance that had been running through Yaku’s veins since Saturday night, but being the Ravenclaw that he was, he was unable to not, _not_ answer.

“Deduct. Conclude.” At Lev’s continual blank look Yaku sighed. “Take a guess.”

“Oh… hmm…” Lev’s brow scrunched up in thought.

_And here we will wait for days._

Yaku knew he was being mean, but at the moment he

Just. Didn’t. Care.

“Well... I would have guessed that you were mad at me cancelling Saturday night’s meeting.”

“Cancel? Cancel?! Don’t you mean stood up?” Yaku burst out, unable to restrain his frustration any longer. Luckily Lev didn’t know him well enough to know how uncharacteristic an outburst from him was.

“Huh? What do you mean stood up?”

“Stood up. As in making plans with someone then not showing up,” Yaku ground out.

“But I didn’t stand you up, I sent you that owl on Saturday morning.”

“Owl?” Yaku echoed, momentarily thrown.

“Yes. My owl. I even saw you get it at breakfast, so I know you got it.”

“Owl at breakfast,” Yaku echoed, as the cogs in his mind whirred. He thought back to Saturday morning, and remembered an unfamiliar large speckled owl dropping a rather garish leopard print envelope onto his napkin. There had even been glitter worked into the wax seal. At the time Yaku had thought that the only one capable of sending him such an atrocious letter was his Great Aunt Milly, who was a bit batty and had the horrible tendency of forwarding junk mail to everyone. Yaku, impatient at getting yet another useless “You can earn a chance to win the national Slovenia Lottery for the low, low price of sending in 10 Galleons” had stuffed the letter hurriedly into his book bag. Then promptly forgotten about it. Until now.

“Huh,” Yaku said slowly. It wasn’t every day that he was rendered speechless. Wordlessly, half-forgetting that Lev was even there, he opened his book bag and, shifting the neatly packed contents around, spotted the patterned letter at the very bottom. He pulled it out, [“Yes that’s the letter!”] and still half-ignoring Lev, began to read the contents.

_Yaku-san,_

_Can’t meet up with you tonight. Wolfgang isn’t feeling good. Had to nurse him all night, and probably tonight as well. Sorry!_

_This is Haiba Lev by the way._

Yaku inadvertently snorted at Lev’s closing of his note, as though Yaku knew any other Levs. His mind whirred: So he hadn’t been stood up. Lev had been nursing his sick pet. Yaku had not read the letter. Which meant that, technically, Yaku was the one in the wrong here.

“Lev!” Yaku said, loudly and sternly, so that Lev practically jumped in place. “Take me to Wolfgang right now! I have to make sure you’re administering proper treatment! After seeing how you messed up Episkey, which is a relatively simple healing spell, I’m not sure I trust your healing abilities.” He tried to put as much authority and haughtiness into his voice as possible.

And just as Yaku had assumed would happen, Lev’s attention was diverted from the letter in Yaku’s hand.

“Wow! Would you Yaku-san? I’m going there to check up on him now, will you come?”

“Of course. Lead the way Lev. The quicker the better, when it comes to sickness.” He quickly stuffed the letter back into his bag as soon as Lev turned around.

Yaku was feeling so smug about the success of his diversion that it took him a few moments to realize that Lev was leading him away from the castle, and not towards it. Specifically, they were about to walk into the Forbidden Forest.

“Lev where are we going?” Yaku questioned, forgetting to use his authoritative voice.

“To Wolfgang of course,” Lev said, as they entered the first batch of trees.

“Lev we’re going into the Forbidden Forest.”

“Mhmm.”

“Lev why we going into the Forbidden Forest?” Yaku asked as he practically jogged to keep up to Lev’s impossibly long legs. A tinge of panic hit his conscience, because just by going into the forest Yaku knew he was breaking one of the most important school rules. He thought about heading back to the castle, but his natural thirst for knowledge and the unknown won out. He decided that if they were caught he wasn’t above pushing the blame onto Lev.

“What do you mean? Where else would I keep Wolfgang?”

“Um. In your room like a normal student.”

“Don’t be silly, Yaku-san, Wolfgang wouldn’t fit in there.”

Yaku slowed. “Wolfgang wouldn’t be an acromantula would he?”

Lev actually stopped at that. “No! That’d be crazy. What do you take me for?”

“Er,” Yaku decided the best answer would be a non-answer. “Are we almost there?”

“Oh. Yeah, just around this bend here. See that cave?”

“Huh. Yeah.” Yaku affirmed, staring at a single cave surrounded by ebony branches sporting decrepit black leaves, that wasn’t in any way creepy or ominous looking… because _of course_ Lev’s pet would be in a secret, deadly-looking cave in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. Lev was Russian after all.

Lev strolled straight to the entrance. Without hesitation Yaku rushed after him. Despite its somber appearance on the outside, the walls and ceiling of the cave were inlaid with some kind of phosphorescent blue rock. It was astoundingly pretty, actually. Yaku couldn’t resist running a finger over the surface; it was slightly warm and as slick as running water.

“Wolfgang! You shouldn’t be running around like that!” Lev’s voice brought him back to the situation at hand, and he looked over to see Lev talking to thin air.

“Um…”

“That’s Yaku-san!” Lev said to the empty space in front of him, gesturing to Yaku, who was beginning to feel a bit alarmed. He had the ability to see Thestrals, so he knew Lev wasn’t talking to one. Yaku had a very extensive knowledge of magical beasts, given his father’s research job. Invisible animals were rare. Rarer than rare. So there were only two rational options available at hand. The first was that Lev was bat-shit crazy and was currently talking to a figment of his imagination. Or…

“Lev… is Wolfgang a Demiguise?” Yaku asked, feeling stupid for even asking such a question, since Demiguises were even rarer than the rarest rare.

“Of course he is. Can’t you see?” Lev answered, as he appeared to pet the air.

The researcher in Yaku had to tamp down on the burst of excitement that flared through his body at the unbelievable news.

Trying to keep his voice neutral, so as to not scare the creature, he responded, “Actually, Lev I can’t see. I’m not trained to see Demiguise while they’re invisible. Can you ask, uh, Wolfgang to stop clocking himself in invisibility.”

“Oh. Right. Sure. I forgot about that. How about it Wolfgang? Can you appear for Yaku-san? He definitely won’t hurt you.” Yaku ignored the slightly tingly feeling in his gut at the complete trust and faith that Lev seemed to have in him not to harm his pet. Demiguise were hunted and killed for their pelts, which went for insanely high prices, and most people couldn’t resist an easy payday.

Yaku started at the empty air for several seconds, until suddenly, a large Demiguise appeared before his eyes. His heart leapt. Thus prior, he’d only seen pictures of them in books. Not even Great Gregory’s Magical Bestiary in Taipei had one to display, and it was the zoo with the biggest assortment of magical beasts available.

Wolfgang’s ape-like body was almost as big as Yaku. Yaku gulped, but not out of fear. Wolfgang’s silvery hair shone softly in the gentle blue glow of the cavern. “Amazing,” Yaku breathed, he held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you Wolfgang.”

Wolfgang studied Yaku’s hand in speculation. Primates were, of course, fantastically intelligent animals. Demiguises were no exception, but given their pacifistic nature, and their defense mechanism of invisibility, favoring the flight over fight response, Yaku knew that they were instinctively incredibly timid creatures. If Wolfgang were to reject him right now, he would quite possibly never show himself to Yaku again. So Yaku waited, patiently, trying not to tremble with the excitement he was feeling inside, his hand steady in the air.

Slowly Wolfgang shuffled over to him, his gentle, dark eyes not quite meeting Yaku’s own. Carefully Wolfgang reached his hairy hand out, and just as carefully _, shook Yaku’s hand._

Yaku’s inner-researcher squeed loudly, but he kept his expression neutral and very respectfully shook Wolfgang’s hand back. Lev, who had been uncharacteristically silent for the entire exchange, was positively beaming. Wolfgang shuffled back over to Lev, who almost tenderly, laid a hand on his head. For a fleeting second Yaku wondered what it would have felt like if it was his head under Lev’s hand.

Then he banished the thought and ordered his brain to forget that he had ever thought it in the first place.

“Yaku-san is going to give you a check-up now,” Lev informed Wolfgang, in a reassuring voice, so Yaku had no choice but to do just that. Luckily, given his father’s job, and being in N.E.W.T. level Care of Magical Creatures, Yaku had a variety of spells and physical diagnostic checks in his magical repertoire. When he finished he pulled two red apples from his book bag and held them out to Wolfgang, who took the treats and retreated further into the cave to safely consume the edibles (since he didn’t quite trust Yaku completely, which is what Yaku had been banking on).

“Lev,” Yaku turned to Lev, who had watched the examination in quiet fascination, “you can’t just keep a Demiguise here.”

“Why not?” Lev asked earnestly.

“Well owning one is extremely illegal. You can’t keep Demiguise as pets. Period. Only those who obtain proper licensure from The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures —and that takes several years and a possible metric ton of paperwork… and not to criticize your intelligence but I highly doubt you went through that entire procedure— anyway, if you’re caught, whatever the reason, you could be sent to Azkaban!” Yaku reasoned, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. Just by knowing of Wolfgang’s existence and not reporting it, well, Yaku himself could technically be deemed an accomplice to the crime…

“Oh, that,” Lev said, as though getting sent to Azkaban were hardly more worrying than forgetting to wear matching socks. “Yaku-san you worry too much. Wolfgang won’t get caught.”

“And how do you know that?” Yaku asked in a voice that plainly said he didn’t believe Lev. Lev sat down on a large rock.

“Well, I put a bunch of protective enchantments on the cave [and here, he listed about 20, each one making Yaku’s jaw drop further and further] not to mention that it also has a Fidelius Charm, with me as the Secret Keeper, and it’s not like I’d tell on myself! And if somehow that all failed, Wolfgang is awful smart, and he still has his invisibility. He’s pretty capable of taking care of himself, he’s not stupid.”

After Yaku picked his jaw back up from the floor he tried to find a flaw in Lev’s logic. There were probably a million logical arguments, but his mind was currently being diverted from them from the pure fact that all of the protective spells Lev had listed were seventh year magic or above, and admittedly, some Yaku had even failed to master. Which clearly meant that Lev was able to perform highly advanced magic; this same giant monster of a boy who had tried to Accio a pencil from across the table and almost stabbed himself in the cheek. He was either a flawlessly brilliant actor or some kind of mad wizarding genius.

Yaku’s entire being seemed to freeze in startling revelation as he watched Wolfgang clamber back over and settle his possibly three hundred pound frame onto Lev’s lap, as though he were nothing more than a cuddly toddler. Lev smiled down at Wolfgang, and Yaku knew that the boy currently sitting in front of him, who was harboring an illegal and powerful magic beast with Auror-level enchantments, was definitely not what he seemed. He could be dangerous. Deranged. Yaku should immediately report him to Headmaster Ukai, maybe even to the Ministry itself. The worst offense Yaku had ever committed in his time at Hogwarts was being out of bed after hours. Yet instead of the proper fear or the obstinate need to take the most intelligent measures against a highly probable threat, Yaku felt… rather intrigued.

\------

The thing was, Bokuto himself knew just when he was spiraling into one of his moods. Having the benefit of a Muggle mother and a father who was a wizard, Bokuto had been to experts in both the magical and non-magical world. He had the proper techniques memorized: carefully crafted therapeutic tricks he could follow, even charmed artifacts that were supposed to help, but sometimes, they just didn’t work.

Like… who in their right mind would believe that breathing exercises would cure the embarrassment of spilling steak sauce all over your shirt, right when your crush happened to look over? Then to make matters worse, instead of Scourgifying it out, you somehow managed to turn the stain permanent, so that the carefully crafted outfit, built for the carefully crafted plan of asking the aforementioned crush out, was entirely ruined?

Or who would be foolish enough to believe that positive thinking would keep you in a good mindset when you saw that same crush, who happened to be The Biggest Crush of Your Life constantly in the presence of someone who was possibly the most beautiful girl you’d even seen, not only smiling and laughing with her, but also having constant, casual physical contact with (when Bokuto had noticed Akaashi’s otherwise careful avoidance of any contact with others) when the most interaction you had, had with said crush since meeting him was an acknowledging nod whenever you crossed each other in the hallway?

Bokuto sighed to himself as he currently sat hunched over in a useless ball of self-loathing, nestled in-between the Singing Lilies and Misty Lavender (whose fragrant fumes were another supposed magical cure of a depressed mental state) in Greenhouse Four. Yet another plan had failed. He knew when he got into a particularly bad mood he was supposed to go to Kuroo or Daichi or even Healer Longbottom for help, but he really just wanted to be alone, and not feel even more pathetic than he felt. He knew he was being stubborn and it definitely wasn’t the smartest thing, but he really just didn’t care.

Literally, things couldn’t get worse.

As quickly as the thought crossed his mind Bokuto’s head rose sharply to search the surrounding area, because everyone knew that whenever a character in a story had such a self-pitying, pessimistic thought the Powers-That-Be would send something into play to make things ten times worse, because it made the plot more interesting.

Nothing popped out at Bokuto. He kept a weary watch for ten more seconds before letting his head fall back into his folded arms, feeling more pathetic than before.

“Oh. Hello.” Bokuto jumped at the voice that was painfully, _unmistakably_ familiar. He thought that maybe his paranoia was playing tricks on him and it wasn’t a real voice, because it wouldn’t just be irony, it would be abject cruelty if Sugawara Koushi was really standing right there in front of him.

“Er… Bokuto?” Suga’s voice prodded, sounding very gentle, but Bokuto knew better than to be fooled.

Bokuto hoped that maybe if he stayed entirely still and unresponsive, Suga would think he was sleeping, or maybe even dead, and give up and move on.

Of course, since fate wasn’t on his side today he heard Suga settle down next to him. Bokuto wanted to cry.

“Look. I’d really appreciate it if you would just leave me alone right now. Please.” Bokuto couldn’t keep the desperation out of his voice as much as he wanted to. Suga was silent for several minutes. Bokuto almost wondered if he was surprised or offended, though he literally didn’t care if either scenario were true or not.

“Bad day, huh?” Suga sounded very sympathetic. Bokuto didn’t respond.

“When I was ten, on a class fieldtrip I fell off a dock into the water,” Suga began in a cheerful voice. “It was really scary because I didn’t know how to swim. Then my teacher yelled at me to stand up, and I discovered I was only in four foot deep water, and my entire class witnessed it. It was embarrassing, but I got out and went on with the fieldtrip. Until I discovered my money was missing, and that I had probably dropped it into the water when I had thought I was drowning. Just that morning I had loaded up my life savings because I was planning to visit a rare book shop in the area that the field trip was in, and I went back to the lake and searched for an hour, but my money was nowhere to be found. But I was determined to not let it get me down. Until I got home and found out my pet owl, which my deceased grandfather had given me, was dead— ”

“What the hell?” Bokuto interrupted. “Is this supposed to cheer me up or something? Because that is a bad story. Like… horribly bad.”

“Oh. I apologize. That was rather rude of me. It’s just that the Singing Lilies reminded me of that story. There were a ton of them around the lake I fell into, and, well, when I’m reminded of unpleasant things I’ve sometimes found it helps to talk about them.” Suga paused and plucked a lavender blossom from a stem, smashing the bud in-between his fingers and causing a pleasant burst of herbal sweetness to float through the air.

_Dear Albus, is he really going for the ‘if you talk about your feelings, it’ll make you feel better’ route?_

“See, I’ve always been like that, so when I found out that Midnight had died, I ran over to the house of one of my best friends, Shimizu, Kiyoko Shimizu, as you probably recognize her by, [Bokuto’s stomach cringed at the mention of the beautiful girl Akaashi was always with. Was Suga actually trying to torture him for with whatever kind of twisted amusement he seemed to get off on?] so I could talk to her about my problems. But then, in _another_ turn of bad luck, her little cousin was there, who also went to our school, and I couldn’t just tell him all of that stuff too, because who knew if the little imp would later blackmail me for it, right?”

“Uh, sure,” Bokuto agreed, he decided to give up on figuring out Sugawara Koushi, who apparently since the age of ten had worried about being blackmailed by others. Maybe if he just let him talk and get whatever he needed off of his chest, he’d go away.

“Exactly. I couldn’t even bribe him to secrecy since I’d lost all my money that morning. Then, since I’d gone through the trouble of visiting Kiyoko’s house, proper manners dictated I couldn’t just leave, but I had to stay around and also play with her little cousin as well. But then, after a few hours I just couldn’t stand it, because I was so sad about Midnight and started crying. Of course, Shimizu and her cousin asked what was wrong, so I told them. Then, the first good thing of the day happened: instead of blackmailing me, Keiji started crying as well, because he was terribly fond of owls, and just hearing about losing one upset him so much. He ended up trying to make me feel better.” Suga abruptly stopped and stood, glancing at his watch.

“I’m positively starving. I’m going back to the castle. Have fun sitting in the dirt,” Suga said pleasantly and walked off, leaving Bokuto to stare after him in wonder for a few minutes.

Bokuto couldn’t believe it.

Sugawara Koushi was definitely evil, but he was some kind of… _kind_ evil.

They were… cousins.

But now it all made sense. The same flawless, pale skin, silky black hair, dainty pointed chins and other-worldly beauty. The easy, familiar, _familial_ close contact.

Bokuto tried not to get too excited.

That failed horribly.

He couldn’t help but grin to himself. People often told him he was oblivious to the most obvious signs. Dense even. But he hadn’t missed Suga’s reference, _Keiji_ , Akaashi Keiji, was fond of owls. Owls. Suga was surely referring back to when he had properly dubbed Bokuto an owl…

Therefore Suga was basically, in a round-about, crafty way, saying that Akaashi was into him. Or at least, interested in him. Bokuto couldn’t stop smiling. Bless Sugawara Koushi. Bokuto had no problem admitting he’d been wrong about him. He definitely could be as saintly as everyone else seemed to think he was.

\------

Bokuto hurried back to the castle. Once inside he headed straight for the library. He may or may not have had Akaashi’s schedule memorized, and therefore knew that on Tuesdays and Thursdays Akaashi had a free block right before dinner that he had regulated as study time.

Once in the library he headed straight to the right, eight shelves back, (Bokuto swore he really wasn’t a stalker) to see that Akaashi, right on schedule, was sitting at the small table near the window, working on what looked like Potions homework.

Bokuto took a deep breath, and puffing out his chest, strode over to Akaashi’s table.

“Mind if I join you?” asked a voice, that sounded like Bokuto’s regular one, except it was definitely deeper, and more mature, and way more sexy.

Akaashi looked up. “Oh, hello Bokuto-san. No, I don’t mind. You may join me if you like.”

The owl in Bokuto hooted in triumph. He took the seat across from Akaashi and took out his own Potions book. He had some sort of essay he was supposed to write for it, that he hadn’t started on yet.

“Look at that! What a coincidence! You have Potions homework. I have Potions homework. What are the odds?”

Akaashi looked at his beaming face, expression blank, before tilting his head thoughtfully. “Possibly 6 to 1, I suppose, if I assume you’re taking the average number of seventh year classes.” He went back to his essay.

Bokuto stared at him in awe. He was perfect. This was perfect. Ten minutes ago he was sure the world was ending. Now he was sitting across from Akaashi Keiji, studying, on a study date (sort of) and having a conversation with Akaashi Keiji. Bokuto was the best. Akaashi was the best. Sugawara, who had opened up the doors for this to happen, was the best.

“So...” Bokuto began again. Akaashi stopped writing and looked up. Bokuto panicked for a moment. It was possible Akaashi was getting annoyed since Bokuto was interrupting his studying, but Akaashi just looked at him with an neutral, unreadable expression, so Bokuto decided to venture on. “I saw your Quidditch tryout! How long have you played? You were crazy good!”

A seemingly pleased expression crossed Akaashi’s face. “I’ve been playing since I was eight. Started in a junior league.”

“Wow! Eight! No wonder you’re so skilled.” Bokuto knew he was laying it on thick, but since it was actually true that Akaashi was skilled, he felt it wouldn’t hurt.

“I’ve only been playing since I got started at Hogwarts,” Bokuto supplied, unasked, daydreaming about reaching out and ruffling Akaashi’s silky black hair.

“Interesting. I would have guessed you played in a junior league too. I saw you conducting your tryouts as well, you’re quite a strong player.”

Bokuto’s cup of happiness overflowed. He was talking to Akaashi, his crush. About Quidditch, his favorite sport. Akaashi, his crush, had complimented him about Quidditch, his favorite sport. Things could not be going better.

“I bet you practiced a lot with your cousin!” Bokuto burst out excitedly, remember that Kiyoko had made the Ravenclaw team as well.

Akaashi looked surprised. “Why, yes I did, actually.”

Bokuto nodded his approval. “I guess talent runs in your family!”

“You’ve met my cousin?”

“Er, well, technically no, not yet, but I’m sure I’ll get around to introducing myself soon.”

Akaashi stared. He was looking at Bokuto as though trying to figure out what he meant.

“Oh! I mean, just to be nice you know. I’m not like all the other guys who are obsessed with physical beauty. Nope. Not me. I mean your cousin is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but I just haven’t fallen for it. And all…” Bokuto trailed off, realizing he probably sounded like an idiot. Judging by Akaashi’s downright baffled expression, he felt sure that Akaashi was feeling the same way. Bokuto sighed, and willed his face not to turn red.

“I just meant… I’m not interested in hitting on your cousin.”

Akaashi raised an eyebrow and gave him another long look. Bokuto could feel the skepticism practically rolling off of Akaashi in waves. Not that he could blame him, he’d probably seen hundreds of men hit on Kiyoko over the years.

_Please believe me. Pleaseeeee._

“Um. Alright then,” Akaashi said finally. He looked down at his Potion’s book and turned the page.

_Yes!_

“So did you hear about the first Hogsmeade trip this Saturday?” Bokuto asked quickly, hoping to quickly smooth over his awkward slip up.

“Oh, yes. I keep hearing good things about Hogsmeade so I’m looking forward to seeing it in person.”

“Great, great!” Bokuto could do this! He’d spent all last week preparing. It was now or never. “Anyway, I was thinking, since this would be your first time and all, I could, uh, show you around.” He fidgeted with the edge of the page of his own Potion’s book, and took a quick look at Akaashi, whose expression was back to being unreadably neutral. “Ah, and uh, your cousin could come too. First trip and all.”

“Sure. That sounds great–” Akaashi said, rather agreeably, and Bokuto almost squeaked from excitement, but managed to cover it up with a cough.

“Yeah. Cool. Great. Good.”

“Except,” Akaashi began, and Bokuto panicked for the smallest second. ‘Except’ could lead to very bad news. “I don’t think he can come since he’s in Belgium at the moment."

“Huh? Who’s in Belgium.”

“Fredrick.”

“Fredrick? Who’s that?”

Akaashi gave him a weird look. “My cousin.”

Bokuto’s froze. His brain slowly went into sleep mode. To do some deep thinking. Very deep thinking. Because he knew that something was very wrong here. And he had a sneaking suspicion he should know exactly what it was, and where exactly it had originated.

“Akaashi,” he started slowly, trying very much to sound as nonchalant as possible. “Do you have any other cousins?”

“No. Fredrick’s my only cousin.” Akaashi paused, giving Bokuto another of his quizzical looks, and Bokuto was beginning to understand just why Akaashi kept giving them. “Why?”

“Um. No reason really. I was just going to suggest inviting them if you did.” Bokuto smiled as cheerfully as he could at Akaashi, then took his quill out of his bag. Akaashi went back to his essay. Bokuto switched his Potions book out for his Defense Against the Dark Arts text. He opened it and turned to the section on Defensive Spells to ward off Evil Spirits.

He was going to be prepared the next time he came across Sugawara Koushi.

\------

The rest of Daichi’s week was a collection of missed chances in formally being introduced to Sugawara Koushi. True to his word, Oikawa was trying to be helpful. At breakfast on Monday, Suga was sitting at the Gryffindor table next to Oikawa and Iwaizumi, but just as Daichi had nervously made his way over to them, Professor Takeda had intercepted him to help with a problem in the third floor bathroom. On Tuesday, in Potions, Oikawa had clearly dragged Sugawara over to work at the same table, but before Daichi could get there, Yui had asked him to be her partner. Since he hadn’t had a good reason to say no, he’d agreed. On Wednesday, Oikawa attempted the same thing as Monday, only at dinnertime, but Daichi had completely missed that chance, since he had coincidentally decided to skip dinner because Yaichi has asked for help with her Charms homework in the library. That same night, while patrolling the corridors, Daichi was 98% sure that he had seen Sugawara out of bed, after hours, but when he turned the corner to follow after him the hallway had been empty. Daichi wondered if he was losing his mind, or if he was just really desperate. He wasn’t sure which was the more preferable reason.

As Head Boy Daichi had to spend the first trip to Hogsmeade making sure the younger students stayed in line and were all accounted for. He had promised to show Iwaizumi and Oikawa around, so once he made sure the younger students were behaving in a safe and responsible manner he headed over to the Three Broomsticks, where they had went ahead with Tanaka, Asahi, and Noya.

When Daichi entered the already crowded pub he scanned the area, spotting his friends by Asahi’s telltale long hair. He headed over, then stopped short, when he saw Sugawara Koushi was also sitting at the table. Then he noticed that Suga was sitting next to the only empty chair at the table. It was a completely fail-safe set up. Daichi started to feel excited. There was no way this could go wrong. Tanaka spotted him. “Daichi, over here!” he shouted, then in a very conspicuous and obvious manner, pointed at the empty seat next to Sugawara. At Tanaka’s shout everyone had turned to watch Daichi’s approach. All of them, minus Suga, started to smirk. Noya winked. Oikawa winked. Asahi even tried to give him a not-so-covert thumbs up. Daichi’s excitement quickly receded; he now had a budding feeling that many things could easily go wrong, and those many things would have everything to do with his friends.

Daichi took his designated seat. He wondered how to smoothly introduce himself to Suga, who was looking very nice in a light blue jumper over a checkered shirt. Oikawa launched into introductions for him: “I don’t believe you two have met yet. Daichi, this is Sugawara Koushi, but everyone calls him Suga. Suga this is Sawamura Daichi, he’s in Gryffindor with Iwa-chan.” Daichi shot Oikawa a grateful look.

“Daichi’s Head Boy,” Tanaka added unexpectedly.

“Oh yeah!” Noya exclaimed. “He’s also the dueling champion of the school.”

“He’s our Quidditch Captain,” Asahi contributed quietly, then quailed underneath the sour look Daichi shot him.

Daichi resisted the strong urge to facepalm. Even though he knew they were well meaning, they could not have been any more obvious with the praise. Iwaizumi gave him an amused, sympathetic look.

“Impressive!” Suga said cheerfully. “About the only monumental thing I’ve done is keep my pet cat alive for five years.” Suga grinned at Daichi. Up close Daichi could clearly see the brilliant flecks in his hazel eyes.

Sugawara Koushi was a doll. A cute, adorable doll.

“So did you guys decide where you want to visit first?” Daichi asked.

“Honeydukes!” Tanaka and Noya immediately answered together. For some reason their answer sent alarm bells off in the back of Daichi’s head, though he couldn’t exactly say why. Honeydukes was one of the best places in Hogsmeade, afterall.

“Let’s go now,” Tanaka suggested, standing up. Daichi hadn’t even ordered a drink yet.

“Yes, now,” Noya said, hauling Asahi up. This gave the others no choice but to follow. Once outside, to Daichi’s joy, Suga fell into step beside him.

Daichi tried to think of something intelligent to say, but came up short. Then he tried to think of something witty. That didn’t work either. He tried to just think of literally anything, but the only thing that came to mind was commenting on the weather, and he really didn’t want to be that lame.

“Oh, Zonko’s looks interesting,” Suga commented pleasantly as they passed the shop. Before Daichi could answer, Nishinoya suddenly shouted, in a loud and dramatic voice, “I’ve _just_ remembered! I need to stock up on some Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. And Ryu, didn’t you want some new Extendable Ears.”

“Oh, you’re right, Noya. How forgetful of me,” Tanaka replied, in an equally fake, loud voice.

"We’ll just stop into here real quick and catch up with you all after,” Tanaka informed them, then headed toward the door of Zonko’s with a huge grin and wink at Daichi. Nishinoya grabbed Asahi’s hand, dragging him along. Right before they reached the door he turned his head around and winked at Daichi as well. Daichi sweat dropped.

“Why do they keep winking?” Daichi heard Suga ask, and Daichi promised himself to have the two of them, no three—Asahi was as good as guilty—scrubbing the Dungeon floors for the next week.

“Unintentional muscle twitching due to neurological damage. They were dropped on their heads as babies quite often.”

“Both of them?”

“Yes. Very intentionally too. Shall we continue on our way then?”

Daichi heard Iwaizumi snigger as they started walking again. In half a minute they reached Honeydukes.

“Wow,” Iwaizumi said, eyeing the display windows.

“Wow is right,” Suga said, and Daichi saw him staring at the large crowd of students inside. “It’s so crowded, maybe we should-”

“No, a crowd’s perfect!” Oikawa reassured him. The statement sounded wrong to Daichi’s ears, but before he could ruminate on exactly why it did Oikawa ushered them into the shop.

It really was very crowded. Due to the Halloween rush and the first school visit, Daichi reasoned with himself. He could hardly walk without bumping into someone. Though he couldn’t really have a conversation with his companions, since he had to concentrate on navigating around the crush of bodies, Daichi saw the three transfer students examining everything with wonder and curiously. No matter where a person came from, or how old they were, Daichi knew the first time in Honeydukes was always pure magic.

“Careful!” Daichi instinctively shielded Suga as a floating Inuoka, who had obviously eaten one to many Fizzing Whizzbees, almost collided with the other boy.

“Ah, sorry Daichi!” Inuoka apologized good-naturedly, as he drifted around, bumping into people. Daichi carefully pushed him into the direction he thought was safest.

“Thanks.” Suga’s voice breathed onto the back of Daichi’s ear, and every hair and nerve in Daichi’s body thrilled at the soft push of breath against his skin. Daichi knew it was simply a casual word of thanks, but still...

Damn did he have it bad. He’d never had this kind of physical reaction to anybody’s presence before. It was almost electric, and slightly terrifying with how unable he was to control it.

“Uh, no problem,” he threw over his shoulder, not really turning around to face Suga, since he had a feeling his face was red. He fidgeted uselessly with the collar of his pullover, trying to think of a distraction. His eyes scanned the area and landed on the chocolate.

“Oh, hey, Iwaizumi this was the chocolate I was telling you about.” He turned to point it out to Iwaizumi, only to see that Iwaizumi and Oikawa were nowhere to be seen, even though it couldn’t have been more than ten seconds since he had last looked over at them. Suga was the only one standing behind him.

“Uh,” he came up short. Suga turned to look behind him to see what the problem was. It was a few moments before he turned back around. When he did he was smiling cheerfully at Daichi.

“Oh. Hm. Must have gotten separated by the crowd,” Suga shrugged. “Well, can’t be helped.”

“Uh.” Daichi was just trying to compute how the hell everyone had agreed upon such an idiotic and glaringly obvious set-up. Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Asahi he could understand. Oikawa, he could hazard a guess, had been a bit frustrated by all of his other failed attempts, so he could possibly forgive him. But he had thought better of Iwaizumi. He would be having words with him later.

“Uh,” Daichi repeated again before he could stop himself.

This was so embarrassing.

“So, what would you recommend me trying out?” Suga asked, as though Daichi wasn’t literally lost for words.

“Ah. Right. Well I really like the Sugar Quills here. They have some at Zonko’s, but the flavors here are better and there’s even one that supposedly lets you daydream in class…” he trailed off at the amused look on Suga’s face. “Uh, too juvenile?” he hedged.

Suga gave a sweet, almost fond laugh that made Daichi’s stomach flip. “No, not at all. Just find it amusing that the Head Boy is recommending something that I’m pretty sure is on the banned-from-class list."

“Uh,” Daichi repeated his new favorite word.

“Haha relax. I don’t care. And who would I even report you to? Yourself?” The humor from Suga’s joke flew over Daichi’s head as Suga patted Daichi’s shoulder in casual placation, and Daichi could have sworn on _Hogwarts, A History_ that Suga’s hand left a physical heat in the place it had touched.

“There’s also, the, uh, Ice Mice. They’re pretty fun to eat together with the Pepper Imps, ice and fire and all.” Daichi tried not to stutter as he pushed a path through the crowd to the correct shelves and gestured towards the packages.

“Cool. I’ll get some of these then.” Suga grinned at him, and then, before Daichi could move aside, he stepped forward, and reached around Daichi. He was so close that there were several points of accidental contact: his shoulder bumped into Daichi’s arm, and his hand brushed against Daichi’s elbow. The proximity made Daichi take in a sharp breath, and dear lord, Hinata had been right, Suga did smell like flowers, and also grass and sunshine and trees, all things that Daichi associated with things he loved, like Quidditch, and his home and family, and now he could probably add Suga to the list…

“Ohhh, what’s this? No melt ice cream? How clever!” Suga mused, examining a lower shelf, bringing Daichi out of his mental tailspin. “Peppermint Toads! Are these like Chocolate Frogs, except peppermint flavored?” He looked up at Daichi, his eyes sparkling exactly like the proverbial kid in a candy store.

He looked so adorable and excited that Daichi couldn’t help but grin. “Sort of. Instead of hopping around once outside of the package, they make your stomach jump.”

“Fun!” Suga pulled a few packages from the shelf. His hands were full of sweets.

“Let me go get you a basket,” Daichi suggested, comfortable in a caretaker role.

“Thanks Daichi, you’re the best.”

Daichi froze. Not because Suga had called him, literally, the best, but because Suga had used his first name. Without any honorifics. As though they were close. As though he considered Daichi close. Personal. Daichi’s mouth felt dry.

He looked back at Suga, who catching his gaze, smiled at him sweetly. Daichi’s heart gave a small flutter.

All of these uncontrollable physical reactions were probably going to ruin his health.

\---------

The first place Hinata took Kageyama was Honeydukes’s, where Kageyama bought some Sugar Quills, which he had never seen before and also realized were the reason why every student at Hogwarts seemed to have an oral fixation with their writing utensils. At Zonko’s he refrained from buying anything and watched a bit wearily as Hinata loaded up on things like Dungbombs and Twinkling Ink.

The next stop they made was the Shrieking Shack, where Hinata had been very disappointed that Kageyama had not found anything remotely scary about it. He had babbled and badgered Kageyama about how it really, truly was scary and haunted, and why did Kageyama always have to be a spoilsport, until Kageyama had finally shut him up by telling him to lead the way to Madam Puddifoots’s so that Kageyama could treat him, as stipulated by their bet.

“I still can’t believe I won,” Hinata crowed happily, for what felt like the fiftieth time, as they walked the path back to the bustling streets and shops.

“Yeah, yeah I know. I can’t either,” Kageyama grumbled, earning him a playful shove from Hinata.

“It’s just up here.” Hinata led Kageyama to a small shop with frosted windows and Halloween decorations that made it hard to see inside. Kageyama tried to peer through the glass anyway.

“I can’t see anything inside, what kind of food is this anyway? You never said.” He turned to look at Hinata, who suddenly seemed to avert his eyes away from Kageyama.

“Let’s go in, come on!” Hinata heaved the door open, not answering the question, and Kageyama followed after him, about to demand at answer, but a second after entering the shop Kageyama was rendered speechless.

What he had thought were bat decorations on the other side of the frosty glass were copious black roses decorating the room. The frosty glass wasn’t frosty at all, but rather, foggy, probably from all the heat generated by the couples, sitting close together. Everywhere Kageyama looked there were couples, and huge pumpkins stuffed with hideously bright pink flowers, and garishly pink wallpaper. Kageyama almost gaped.

“Hello dears, table for two is it?” A middle-aged woman with curly green hair greeted them, and Hinata nodded, leaving Kageyama no choice but to follow, because his mind could not quite comprehend what was happening.

She led them to a table in the back corner, where two chairs were placed next to each other, much like all the other pink chairs at the other pink tables. Hinata took a seat, and looked expectantly at Kageyama as though everything was completely ordinary and they weren’t currently in the pink depths of pink Hell. Kageyama took his seat.

“Here are your menus. Take your time now.” The lady walked away, and Kageyama turned to Hinata who seemed to be eagerly perusing the menu.

“Hinata are we in the right place?” Kageyama hissed.

Hinata’s eyes remained on his menu. “Duh. It says Madam Puddifoot’s name on the front, didn’t you see.”

Kageyama made a noise in the back of his throat.

“What?” Hinata asked, and finally looked up at him.

Kageyama gave Hinata a disbelieving look and gestured violently at their surroundings. “This!”

“What are you talking about?” Hinata’s eyes darted around quickly, before he brought his menu up again, covering his face. “Stop acting weird, it’s not a big deal that everything’s pink. Can you just act normal for once.” Unbeknownst to Kageyama, Hinata’s own cheeks held a slight tinge of pink, not unsimilar to their surroundings. Kageyama stared in disbelief for a few moments. Obviously he had been referring to all the couples and the decidedly gag-worthy romantic atmosphere, not the color of the décor. Then his brain caught up a few seconds later and processed the “normal” comment. Kageyama’s eyes narrowed in irritation. He could be normal. He _was_ normal. Very normal. He picked up his menu and read:

_Tea Time for Two, Deluxe Lover’s Set: Twelve courses that will satisfy you in more ways than one. *wink wink*_

and

_Rosehip Rendezvous: This special blend will have the two of you in the mood for a bit of secret canoodling._

and

_Spooktacular Special: Made with special black roses, whose essence will light a dark desire in young lovers’ hearts._

Kageyama tore his eyes away from the menu.

“Are you really sure this is the right place?” Kageyama hissed again, taking one last desperate stab at something, anything.

“Jeez, Kageyama, if you wanted to back out of the bet you could have just said so.” Hinata’s annoyed tone came from behind his held up menu.

“I’m not backing out of the bet!” Kageyama snapped. He snatched up his menu, grumbling, and turned to the food section, only to see:

_Blushing Bonbons: Handfeed these to your companion to convey your feelings in one blissful bite._

Kageyama snapped his menu shut in horror, only to look up and see a boy and girl snogging at the table over. Hastily he averted his eyes, trying to find something to focus on, but there was literally nothing to look at but eye-blinding decorations and student couples. Then he realized, there was not a single person, nor a party more than two, inside the room. Everyone was here in pairs.

Including himself.

It took a few moments for Kageyama to realize what that meant, and then his eyes snapped back to Hinata, or to Hinata’s menu, which Hinata was still apparently perusing.

Kageyama’s mouth opened. Then closed. Then his teeth clenched and unclenched. He tried to open his mouth again, but no words came out.

Was this a date?

He looked around the room again, not really bothered by the couples anymore, because he was just trying to figure out _was this a date?_

He looked at Hinata’s outfit, or what he could see of it, and noticed, for first time, (since Hinata’s clothes had been mostly hidden by his cloak) that Hinata was wearing a striped button down topped by a deep red sweater and black corduroys that looked like they’d been pressed recently. Kageyama had only known Hinata for about a month, but a month was a decent amount of time to know someone, especially if you saw them every single day. Kageyama couldn’t remember Hinata wearing anything as remotely nice as the outfit he was wearing. Usually Hinata ran around in short-sleeved shirts that were too thin for the cold fall weather and always held a stain of grass or dirt or broomstick polish that Hinata never cared enough about to Scourgify out.

Self-consciously Kageyama glanced down at his own long-sleeved black wool sweater and grey jeans. He also had on a pair of black leather Oxfords that looked, and were, expensive. Admittedly they were nice clothes, since his mother picked them out, because he honestly didn’t have much interest in fashion, and she insisted that he needed to always look smart, and why was he even justifying to himself why his clothes were nice, and why in the world did he even care if they were nice in the first place…

“Have you decided dears?” The green-haired lady was back. Kageyama looked up at her wordlessly.

“Yeah thanks,” Hinata answered, then rattled off his order, which Kageyama didn’t really listen to because he was trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was apparently on a date with Hinata Shoyou.

“And for you dear?” Kageyama realized she was talking to him. He glanced at Hinata, who was looking at him, then quickly glanced away.

“Just… I’ll have the same,” Kageyama muttered.

“Oh! It’s always so cute when customers get matching orders,” the woman approved, and damn it all, Kageyama’s face was definitely not getting warm from that comment.

“It’ll just be a few minutes.”

“Thanks.”

And then Kageyama was left with no menu to distract him, which was unfortunate, because he was suddenly having a hard time looking at Hinata for some reason.

He stared stubbornly down at his hands.

“Across the street is Spintwitches, that’s the sporting goods store. I want to go check it out after, my mom sent me some money to buy something to congratulate me on making the team. You’ll probably like it there, they have a really good selection!” Hinata babbled happily. “Oh yeah! And then there’s the Post Office! We should go there, they have like, five hundred owls, it’s really cool to see. I forgot about it because I never really go there anymore because I just use the free school ones.”

Kageyama grunted and continued to stare at his hands.

“No good? Not even animals like you?” Hinata joked teasingly.

Kageyama’s head instinctively rose to snarl a reply at Hinata’s quip, but the moment he saw the orange-haired boy’s face, the reply died on his lips as quickly as a spider who had been Avada Kedavara-ed.

“No. It’s fine,” Kageyama mumbled, looking at the pink wallpaper just behind Hinata’s head.

“Er, Kageyama are you feeling alright?”

“I…” Kageyama’s looked back at Hinata’s face which looked slightly alarmed. Suddenly, Kageyama felt very tired, almost drained. His eyes returned to his hands. “I just have a headache. I’m too hungry… I guess.”

“Idiot, why didn’t you tell me sooner? We could have come here earlier.” Hinata’s finger poked the side of Kageyama’s head playfully, and Kageyama felt hyperaware of the point of contact. What was he supposed to respond with? Or talk about now? He couldn’t seem to remember what he normally talked to Hinata about. This was frustrating.

He glanced at Hinata, who was looking at his questioningly. He looked back at his hands, and before he could stop himself or realize what he was doing, he sighed.

“Whoa, you must be starving. I’ll just, uh, not bother you until the food gets here. Just... rest a while ok,” Hinata’s voice said, decidedly gentle, and Hinata’s hand came into Kageyama’s vision and patted over his knuckles, just as gentle, and Kageyama swallowed hard.

This wasn’t fair. Hinata hadn’t given him any warning what-so-ever, while Hinata himself had, had a week to mentally prepare for this moment. Why hadn’t he just said straight out to Kageyama that he wanted to go on a date. Wasn’t that how it was supposed to work? It wasn’t a date if only one person knew, right?

But… if he thought about it, was that really how it worked? When someone asked someone out, did they specifically specify it as a date? It’s not like Kageyama had any experience in the matter, though he would never admit that to Hinata, well, besides the hundreds of fangirls that asked him out, and the occasional sleazy older dude, but those didn’t count. Kageyama tried to think. In all of the dumb Muggle movies Suga and Oikawa watched, the people sort of just naturally fell together, after some sort of comedic/angsty/miraculous occurrence of events, or they did something cool and casual, like say: “Want to grab a coffee?” or “Want to go for a tea?”.

Kageyama stilled.

He and Hinata were having tea.

He hadn’t failed to notice the absence of Hinata’s two best friends. He’d asked him where they were earlier, but Hinata had simply shrugged and said they were just off doing their own thing, and Kageyama hadn’t given it a second thought. He’d assumed they probably didn’t want to spend their time showing around a newcomer to Hogsmeade.

And now Hinata and him were sitting here, in the tea shop, and Hinata was dressed nice, as was appropriate for a date, and Kageyama was dressed nice, as was also appropriate. Maybe since Kageyama was dressed nice, Hinata thought that Kageyama just knew that they were on a date, because maybe that was how these kinds of things worked, and maybe, Kageyama realized in a rare moment of self-clarity, that the entire problem with this situation was Kageyama himself, for not realizing what anybody else would have obviously realized by now: they were on a date.

Kageyama sucked in a breath and tried to get into his zen pre-game Quidditch mode that helped calm his nerves.

What did people talk about on dates? Like getting to know the other person, right? What did Kageyama know about Hinata? That Hinata was loud, and short and his presence filled up a room. That he had loads of friends and loved Quidditch and animals and his younger sister. But he knew that already. He had to talk about something he didn’t know yet. He glanced around the room for inspiration, and his eyes fell on an empty two-tiered cake stand sitting on the back counter.

“What,” he began without warning, causing Hinata to slightly jump in his seat, “do you think about muffins?”

Hinata quirked a brow. “Muffins? Like the food?”

“Of course the food idio—er, I mean, yeah the food.” Kageyama caught himself just in time. He was pretty sure you didn’t call your date names, unless you were someone like Iwaizumi dealing with someone like Oikawa.

Suddenly Hinata laughed. “Great Wizards you must really be starving. Muffins.” He shook his head and chuckled and the sound made Kageyama simultaneously feel slightly pleased and like he wanted to sink into the floor and die. “Well, they’re ok. Pretty tasty. I like blueberry ones best. Also chocolate chip, and oh, my mom makes these really good pistachio ones, I’ll ask her to make them if you ever visit,” Hinata babbled happily. “What about you, what kind of muffins do you like?”

“I don’t really like them,” Kageyama answered honestly.

“Eh?! Why the hell did you ask about them then?”

Kageyama was saved from answering by the arrival of the food, which was all colored red. Under normal circumstances, as in non-date circumstances, Kageyama would have immediately guessed that Hinata had ordered the assortment he did because red was for Gryffindor and that was how Hinata’s mind worked. Yet as he looked at the bright, heart-shaped tea sandwiches and the red velvet colored shortcakes topped with rose-shaped strawberries, and the chrysanthemum tea that was emitting heart shaped steam trails that curled daintily into the air, Kageyama felt that the theme here was something entirely different than Gryffindor pride.

“Enjoy!” The woman gushed, as she set down the last plate of what looked like raspberry macarons. Kageyama hadn’t thought he could be more shocked than he was, but then his stomach caught the scent of the food, and it actually smelled incredibly delicious. His hand was picking up a sandwich before he could process what it was doing, and he was biting into what tasted like freshly baked bread and smoked salmon with juicy tomatoes and some kind of secret sauce that Kageyama was sure was one of the most delicious things he had ever eaten.

“Holy crap!” He said in actual amazement to Hinata, who was shoveling bites of a large currant trifle into his mouth.

Hinata nodded furiously. “Good huh?” he prompted, around a mouthful of whipped cream. Kageyama couldn’t even berate him for his manners, since he was currently stuffing a slice of marbled cheesecake into his own mouth with abandon. It was the best cheesecake Kageyama had ever tasted, which was saying something, since he wasn’t too fond of cheesecake in the first place.

They were silent for a while, filling their bellies, but it was a more comfortable silence, at least for Kageyama. He was chewing on what was probably his tenth tea sandwich, completely forgetting about his previous dilemma of choosing a conversation topic, when Hinata finally spoke again. “Dude, this place is just as good as everyone said it was.”

Kageyama was halfway through another mini cherry pie before he realized the implication behind Hinata’s words. “You mean you’ve never been here before?” He tried to keep his tone neutral.

“Nope!” Hinata happily licked a dollop of clotted cream off of a scone. Kageyama’s eyes were inadvertently drawn to the action for a split second, before Hinata continued. “This is my first time. Everyone’s always talking about how good the food is here.”

Huh. Kageyama felt… relieved by this new bit of information. Maybe because it hinted that Hinata was new to this too. Kageyama couldn’t really see Hinata dating anyone, though he did seem suspiciously close with that blonde-haired girl named Yaichi... though after careful observation of their interactions Kageyama had concluded the two weren’t actually dating. Or… maybe it was because that meant Hinata, despite whatever his dating history was, had never bothered to bring anyone else here. Maybe that meant Kageyama was special.

Maybe he needed to stop all of this mental analyzation. A therapist one told him that this kind of obsessive thinking wasn’t good for his health. What else had that therapist also said? Oh, yeah, to just try to go with the flow of life. Kageyama could maybe attempt to do that right now. Just sit here and eat cake.

“Ah, that was good,” Hinata sighed in contentment as he finished the last sandwich. Kageyama couldn’t help but grunt in agreement. It had been a decent amount of food, and Kageyama was pleasantly full, just on the brink of being stuffed. “Hmmm. Want to go Spintwitches now?”

“Alright.” As though she could smell the money about to fall into her till the lady reappeared, with the check, which Kageyama paid with a short glance at the charges.

“One day, when I’m a famous and rich and have sponsors like you, I’m going to be able to do that.”

“I don’t have that many sponsors,” Kageyama grumbled, shoving his money bag back into his pocket.

“Whatever.” Hinata got up and put his cloak back on. Kageyama did the same, and they walked out of the shop. As they crossed the street to the sporting good store Kageyama had to admit that it hadn’t been that bad. They hadn’t really talked much, but then again, if Kageyama really thought about it, they didn’t actually talk much in the first place, unless you counted trading insults.

As they browsed the gloves, Hinata hummed happily to himself, and Kageyama relaxed further. None of this was a big deal.

“Oh yeah, and I know it was a bet an all, but thanks for coming with me to Madam Puddifoot’s.” Hinata expressed, examining a deep burgundy pair of dragon-hide Seeker gloves. “I’ve been wanting to try their food forever.”

“No one would go with you?” Kageyama tried to ask casually, as he pretended to inspect a pair of black snakeskin gloves.

“Izumi and Kouji refuse to even set foot in there, despite how good everyone says the food is.” Hinata rolled his eyes.

Wait. So Hinata had asked other people to go there before, specifically Izumi and Kouji, who were Hinata’s _friends_.

“So you wanted to go there just to try the food?” Kageyama asked, trying to keep the agitation out of his voice.

“Well yeah, everyone’s always talking about it. You ate it, you tasted how good it is! I think you even ate more than me.” Hinata, side-eyed him with a smirk. Kageyama quirked an eyebrow in response to the insinuation, but inside he was beginning to feel very, very foolish.

So it had been as simple as Hinata following his stomach. Of course. Of course that was the reason, he should have realized that from the moment he tasted the food. It was Hinata after all, he’d seen him trip over his own broom. Hinata wasn’t smooth. Now that he thought about it there had been a distinct lack of hand-holding, or even touching, stuff that dating people would do.

It hadn’t been a date.

Kageyama wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved. He stole a glance at Hinata who was carefully examining the same gloves with a look of concentrated interest on his face. Kageyama felt a decidedly disappointed feeling begin to well up in his throat but he quickly tamped it down. There was no reason to be disappointed by something that had never existed in the first place.

At least he could go back to acting normal.

“So you getting those?” he asked Hinata, glad to find that his voice came out sounding as it usually did.

“Hmm.” Hinata took a look at the price tag, then quickly put the gloves back. “Uh, no. I’m going to look at some other ones.”

“Alright.” Once Hinata moved down the shelf, Kageyama took a quick look at the gloves, committing them to memory. They’d make a nice congratulatory present for Hinata. For making the team. Friends bought friends those types of presents all the time. There wasn’t anything weird about it.

Though, admittedly, it wasn’t like Kageyama had any more experience on the friend front than he did on the dating one.

 -----

DUDES CHECK OUT THIS AMAZING SUPER DUPER FANART [HERE.](http://squidwartt.tumblr.com/post/132217045987/what-am-i-if-not-a-slut-for-hogwarts-aus-i-read)

Thanks for reading!


	6. Hogsmeade II: Goo Edition

Kuroo was dreaming. He was fully aware of it. He’d always been good at lucid dreaming. It was a trait he was unabashedly proud of; it often came in handy.

Kuroo found himself in the cellar of Honeydukes. He was lounging on what was a veritable mound of soft candies: literally a gigantic bed of gummies. It was incredibly comfortable, for a mattress made of sugar. It was also tasty. Whenever he wanted, he could reach his hand out and scoop up a handful to shove into his gullet. It didn’t even matter if they all landed in his mouth, they’d just fall back into the gummy pile.

Though all of the candy was getting pretty fucking sweet, too sweet. He wished he had a nice glass of butterbeer with a touch of ginger mixed in. Kuroo concentrated really hard, willing a glass to appear on the top of the barrel standing next to his gummy bed.

It didn’t appear.

Well, Kuroo wasn’t _always_ perfect.

He flopped backward onto the pillowy pieces of sweet, sweet gelatin. Not that a candy bed wasn’t cool, but it was kind of boring.

Kuroo wished something exciting would happened.

A door appeared on the wall in front of him.

This was more like it.

Kuroo waiting, curiosity spiking as the door remained shut. Maybe he was supposed to get up and open it? Yet, this was a dream and that seemed too logical.

He decided to wait.

After about a hundred dream years the door opened, and Kuroo was rewarded for his patience. Kenma stood there, eyes turned to the side, not out of indifference like they usually were, but in an abashed manner. A rather attractive maid costume graced his small slender frame that Kuroo found he very much liked. Cat ears peeked out of the silky confines of his bleached blonde hair. Kuroo could see a cat tail swishing in the air behind Kenma, the tip bobbing in and out of view below the frilly black skirt. Kuroo liked that very, _very_ much.

Kenma’s golden eyes slid around the room shyly, looking at everything but Kuroo.

Kuroo found this very arousing.

“Come here, kitty, kitty,” Kuroo cajoled gently. Absentmindedly, Kuroo reached down and grabbed a handful of gummies. He shoved the candy into his mouth.

Kenma took a step forward.

Kuroo reached down and grabbed another handful of gummies in anticipation. They promptly disappeared in his mouth, followed by another handful soon after.

Kenma took another hesitant step. He reached down and bashfully fiddled with the white lace peeking out from underneath the skirt.

Kuroo shoved another handful of candy into his mouth out of sheer excitement.

Then, another.

And another.

Until his entire mouth and esophagus were stuffed full of the treats. He tried to shove in another handful, but he choked.

He sputtered, trying to get the pieces of candy dislodged from his throat. He coughed so violently that he woke up, only to discover that there was something very real lodged in his throat and also something solid and heavy on top of his face.

He sat up, taking in the library shelves around him as a book fell to the floor beside him. _Advanced Goobledegook_ the book read. Kuroo coughed and spat, and chewed up bits of paper, apparently pages from _Advanced Goobledegook,_ flew from his mouth.

What. The. Fuck.

Kuroo looked around, only to see Kai Nobuyuki staring at him, a book that he was apparently about to reshelf in his hand.

“Ah. Hahah. See, this here is-“

“No. No thank you, Kuroo-san. I really don’t want to know.” Kai said politely as he placed the book in its proper spot. He turned and walked away without another word.

Eh. Oh, well.

Kuroo glanced around, trying to get his bearings. He had been sleeping pretty deeply, judging by the brain fog he was suffering from. He Reparo-ed the book and shoved it onto the shelf.

Kenma.

He’d been with Kenma before falling asleep.

Kuroo’s mind flashed back to the dream. It had been the makings of a very nice dream. He sighed wistfully and got up to search for the object of his perverted affections.

Kuroo only had to walk past two aisles of bookshelves before spotting Kenma sitting at the end of one, intently playing on his Weatherby Mugglebox. Kenma loved to come to the library, not to read, but to play Muggle video games on his Mugglebox.

Kuroo sat down beside him. Kenma didn’t even look up to see who it was.

“So… you just left me there?" Kuroo asked pointedly.

“You were sleeping,” Kenma informed him, eyes on the screen.

“That I was.” He waited patiently for more, running his finger over the spine of the book next to his head.

“You started sleep chewing,” Kenma elaborated. “At first it was whatever. But then people started to stare whenever they passed by.”

“So you decided to leave me there to chew alone.”

Kenma handheld made tiny noises as something exploded.

“I left a book on top of your face to screen you from view.”

“So that was for my benefit?” Kuroo quirked a brow in self-amusement.

“Mhmm.”

Kuroo laid down, spreading his long body across the floor. From this angle he could see Kenma’s face better. This was exactly what he had done earlier, except he had apparently fallen asleep. Then, apparently, Kenma had abandoned him.

“Did you stop to think what would happen if you left a book on top of someone’s face who was sleep chewing?” Kuroo asked amicably.

“Not really.”

“Kenma, I started eating the book. Literally chewing on pages of Goobledegook.”

Kenma’s face remained blank.

“So it sort of wasn’t that bad, but then Kai found me. Eating the book. You know he works here as an assistant librarian? I tried to explain what was happening, but then he just said he didn’t even want to know.”

Kuroo carefully watched Kenma’s face. For a few seconds it remained unchanged, then the side of his mouth made the most negligible of twitches.

Kuroo smirked.

“So I’m pretty sure he’s lost all the respect he’s had for me,” Kuroo commented contentedly. Kenma’s face was back to non-expression.

“Probably.”

“Though, I guess that’s only if he had any in the first place.”

The lip twitched again.

Kuroo was delighted. The last month had been an upward battle of re-establishing his relationship with Kenma. It had taken him two weeks alone to get any sort of verbal response beyond what was absolute polite necessity. Just this week, the changes in facial expression had made an appearance. Though admittedly it was probable that they had been there all along, but Kuroo just hadn’t been in tune with them. Still, if Kuroo wasn’t careful, he often missed them.

It was lucky for Kuroo that Kenma had much the same personality as he did when he was younger: reticent, with a preference for avoiding social situations, and a deep perception of people’s actions that translated into analytical thought. It was comforting to Kuroo, the unchanged familiar feeling he still got from Kenma, despite the passage of time.

Kuroo tried not to think about everyone else having fun at the first Hogsmeade trip of the year. Try as he might, he hadn’t been able to persuade Kenma to agree to the trip.

Kuroo took his wand out and fiddled around with it, causing fizzing sparks of light to bloom and float hazily around them, like miniature stars suspended in the air. Another flick of his wand had deep blue climbing roses creeping along the shelves around them. Soon after, soft, sweet violin music filled the air. Kuroo looked at his work with an appreciative eye. He propped himself on his elbow and waited.

It didn’t take long.

“Hey,” Kenma said, eyes not moving from his screen. “Can you turn that down? Can’t hear the sound effects.”

“I will. If you can pause for a second to take a look at this right here.” Kuroo smirked to himself.

“Cant. Boss level. Have to start over if I die.”

“It’s worth the sacrifice I promise.”

Kuroo saw Kenma quirk a brow, but his gaze didn’t waver. Kuroo sighed and flopped onto his back. He hesitated for a second, before waving his wand over his body in idle amusement. A pair of leather pants appeared. Tight leather pants. Another wave of his wand and his shirt _disappeared_. Kuroo looked down at himself. His abs looked nice in the pearly glow of the magicked starlight. He started to trace the tip of his wand against them. It tickled. Kuroo chuckled to himself, purposefully moving the wand to particularly ticklish spots. He had just graduated from chuckling to almost cackling when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

Kai stood there, a complete deadpann expression on his face. Kuroo yanked his wand away from his stomach.

“No Kai, see-”

Kai turned and walked away, unshelved books still in his arms.

Kuroo flopped back down against the floor, softly beating his fist against his forehead in insincere regret. He turned his head so he could see Kenma, who was still playing his game as though nothing had transpired. After a few moments, a tiny smirk appeared on Kenma’s face, which nudged itself into a full blown grin. Then, beautifully small, breathy bits of chuckles spilled from his lips. Kuroo felt a wholly satisfied feeling flood his body.

Kenma put down his game.

“You made me lose a life.” Kenma looked at his face.

Kuroo smirked ruefully. “That’s nothing compared to the 100% undeniable loss of my self-respect.” 

“You brought that on yourself,” Kenma pointed out, lifting his MuggleBox back up, a small grin still on his face.

“Experience is the best teacher,” Kuroo quipped. He changed his clothes back to normal. Kenma hadn’t even glanced at his abs or the leather pants. ‘ _What a lesson in futility’._

He watched as Kenma, instead of turning his MuggleBox back on, got to his feet.

“Let’s go. I’ll buy you a butterbeer in consolation,” Kenma informed him, as he tucked his handheld into his robes.

“Wha- we’re going to Hogsmeade?” Kuroo jumped to his feet.

“Yeah,” Kenma simply stated, then started walking.

Kuroo followed, beaming at the back of Kenma’s head.

\-----

“Bathroom,” Ennoshita told Narita, Kinoshita, and the gaggle of others sitting at their table in The Three Broomsticks. The day was winding down, and they were all enjoying a few more butterbeers before heading back to the castle. He hummed to himself as he navigated his way through the tables. The Three Broomsticks was pleasantly crowded and loud. It had been a successful day of shopping and merriment. He felt pretty content.

When Ennoshita exited the bathroom, he recognized the telltale signs of sniffling floating down the hallway. From the sound of the voice, it was definitely a girl. As a prefect Ennoshita had, had his fair share of comforting and/or reprimanding crying students. So he didn’t hesitate to head to the back of the hallway where the sound was coming from. Possibly one of the new students had gotten separated from their friends, or was feeling left out.

As he rounded the corner he saw a girl sitting in the corner, arms wrapped around her knees. Ennoshita immediately recognized the short hair. It was Michimiya. Ennoshita froze. He had a relatively good guess what the problem was. The hottest gossip of the day was that Hinata and Kageyama were apparently dating. The second hottest gossip, and only interesting to mainly prefects and seventh years, was that Daichi had finally seemed to succeed in asking Sugawara out.

Despite his earlier confidence Ennoshita hesitated. Heartbroken girl was a bit of his realm. He didn’t really know what to do. Was it better to leave someone alone with their heartache, or was it better to _not_ leave them alone? Ennoshita wasn’t exactly close with Michimiya, but he did consider her a school friend and held a certain respect for her since she was Head Girl.

Ennoshita sighed, which turned out to be the wrong move. Apparently the sound carried over to Michimiya, even over the din of the pub and the sound of her own sniffling. Her head shot up, leaving Ennoshita no choice but to act.

“Er. Alright there? Michimiya?” He hedged, trying not to cringe at how stupid the question was. But what else did one say in these sorts of situations? Ennoshita didn't know.

“Ennoshita?” Michimiya sniffed, then seemed to come to her senses. She began to furiously wipe at her face. “Oh no. I’m not- It’s just-“ Despite her efforts, fresh tears swelled up in her brown eyes and ran down her cheeks.

Ennoshita didn’t hesitate this time. He walked over and sat next to her.

“So I take it you heard.” Ennoshita didn’t see a point in beating around the bush.

If Michimiya was surprised that Ennoshita seemed to know of her romantic feelings towards Daichi, she didn’t let on. “More like saw.” The words brought on a fresh set of tears.

“Yeah,” Ennoshita breathed, because there really wasn’t anything else to say. “Sorry.”

“I mean. I knew.”—Michimiya paused to wipe her eyes hard—“I already knew. I’ve never seen him look at anyone else that way. So I knew. And… I’ve had a month to accept it. But still. I just hoped…. I guess.” Michimiya let out a strangled, humorless laugh. “But I—it was just hard to give up since I’ve practically loved him from the first day I met him and all.” Michimiya seemed to deflate even more at her last few words. “God. Literally six years of my life.” Tears began to rapidly slip down her cheeks.

The sight was startling heartbreaking.

Ennoshita reached out and put his arm around Michimiya. He didn’t say anything, just rubbed her shoulder, soothingly, like he did to his younger sister whenever she was crying. The fine knit wool of her sweater was soft coarseness beneath his fingertips.

The gesture seemed too much for Michimiya. She started sobbing, gut-wrenching sobs that Ennoshita’s felt in the pit of his stomach. He took out his wand and casted Muffliato, more out of consideration for Michimiya than for any outsider.

Michimiya’s sobs increased. Ennoshita tried to do as best he could, moving on instinct mostly. He continued rubbing her shoulder, murmuring soothing words and nonsensical sounds to try to ease her suffering. When she leaned her head into him, without thinking about what he was doing, he pressed his lips into her hair, still whispering words to try to sooth her. She smelled like soap and something distinctly feminine; it made her seem even more fragile. His other arm came up to wrap around her, cradling her to his front as the sobs gradually began to subside.

Words were still falling from his lips when Michimiya’s hands crept up and planted themselves on his chest. Her fingers slid forward, grasping into his shirt, pulling, and then her face was rising, pressing into his neck. It took him a second to realize that her lips were leaving feathery kisses over the expanse of skin there. The feeling was so soft and light, little brushes of touch that left a startlingly intense tingling along the surface of his skin. The tears on her cheek were damp against his collarbone.

Ennoshita was so shocked he froze. Then her lips were brushing over the edge of his jawbone, hitting a particularly sensitive spot, and the sensation shot, hot and electric, through his body.

“Wait.” Ennoshita reached up and grasped her wrists. “Michimiya _, wait_.” He tried to pull out of her grasp, to just pull away, but it seemed to have the opposite effect, and her grip tightened. Then her mouth reached his own, needy and pliable, and really, he tried to be responsible and reasonable. He really did. But her lips were so soft and warm and hot, and he _was_ a sixteen-year-old boy, after all.

Ennoshita kissed her back.

She tasted like butterbeer and salty tears, and her lips were plush and undeniably soft as they moved against his own. His hands came up to cup her face, to hold her, very carefully. Unconsciously, his thumbs reached up to brush the remnants of tears from her cheeks. Michimiya made a sound in the back of her throat, and her mouth opened under his.

 _Oh crap. Oh crap._ Ennoshita thought, then her fingers dropped down to the edge of his shirt and he lost his train of thought as they slipped surreptitiously beneath the hem, burning trails of hot heat against the skin of his abdomen. Ennoshita groaned deep in his chest.

“Holy shit,” a voice said. Ennoshita and Michimiya startled and broke apart. Towada Yoshiki stood there, staring at them in blatant surprise.

“Damn Ennoshita I didn’t know you had it in you,” Towada remarked, uncouth. Beyond the horror he felt at being caught in such a situation, Ennoshita felt a swell of anger surge up that made him want to punch Towada in the nose.

“Oh my god,” Michimiya vocalized. Before Ennoshita could say anything she was on her feet and pushing past Towada, leaving Ennoshita on the floor.

Towada turned to stare after her retreating back. “Girls, eh?” he remarked to Ennoshita as he turned back around. Then he saw the look on Ennoshita’s face. “I’ll, er, just be going now.” He pivoted sharply, and hurriedly walked around the corner out of sight.

Ennoshita sat there, slightly shell-shocked. It took him a few minutes before he could begin to try to mentally process what had happened. Rationally, his Ravenclaw-side told him he hadn’t done anything wrong. How was he supposed to know she would do that? It wasn’t like he’d purposely tried to take advantage of her in her vulnerable state. He really had tried to push her away at first. Really.

It wasn’t his fault...

Then his prefect-side kicked in, and told him that it didn’t matter whose fault it was, that actions had consequences, and even inaction was an action.

Though he sort of felt the need to go running after her, he reasoned that she probably needed some alone time to sort herself out. Ennoshita sighed and got to his feet. He smoothed out his shirt.

He’d do the right thing and apologize to her later.

\-----

Whenever Tsukishima and Yamaguchi went to Hogsmeade, they always seemed to follow a routine that was dictated by Tsukishima. First, they headed to The Hog’s Head, where they each drank exactly one butterbeer a piece, to warm up their bodies in the cold weather, Tsukishima had once informed Yamaguchi.

Then, since it was conveniently located across the street, Tomes and Scrolls was the next stop. Both of them could spend hours perusing the books and rolls of parchment. They were on a first name basis with the owner’s son, Benjamin. Bejamin was the one who actually ran the shop and Yamaguchi secretly thought he was sort of cool. He was only a few years older than them, a graduate of Hogwarts as well, and he had a mop of deep black hair and green eyes that made him look like a curly headed, glasses-less Harry Potter. He was a little shorter than Tsukishima, and just as eloquent in his speech, though it was nowhere near as biting, and he had this over-exuberant habit of gesticulating with his hands when he was talking about literature. The habit was endearingly awkward, and Yamaguchi found it adorable, possibly because he was awkward himself. Benjamin always let them stay there as long as they wanted, and always offered them tea, which Tsukishima always declined since they’d just had butterbeers. Sometimes, Yamaguchi wondered what tea made by Benjamin would taste like, but he never contradicted Tsukishima’s decision. They spent the majority of their time at Tomes and Scrolls every Hogsmeade Trip.

Tsukishima was so in tune with his circadian rhythm he always knew just when it hit three in the afternoon.

“Ready?” Tsukishima asked Yamaguchi, and like always, no matter what sentence or page he was on, Yamaguchi answered in the affirmative. This trip Tsukishima decided to buy two books, and Yamaguchi didn’t buy any. This was also normal because Yamaguchi had a lot less pocket money than Tsukishima.

In the middle of the street they parted ways, Tsukishima heading further down the street to Dominic Maestro's, and Yamaguchi back to the front streets. Yamaguchi took this time to visit all the shops that were insanely popular among the students, like Honeydukes and Zonko’s, which Tsukishima silently refused to step foot into on Hogsmeade trips. Yamaguchi skipped over Zonko’s today, because he didn’t need to stock up on anything from there, and just headed straight to Honeydukes.

Tsukishima’s unspoken itinerary for their Hogsmeade trips was secretly brilliant. Most everyone visited Honeydukes straight away, so by the time Yamaguchi got there it was always only a third as crowded as it was in the morning.

First, Yamaguchi stocked up on sweets for his family. His grandparents especially held an ongoing fascination with magical sweets, and Yamaguchi regularly sent them packages of the stuff. Then he picked out a few of his favorites, for himself, before heading over the Muggle sweets section. Tsukishima had a secret penchant for Muggle sweets and Yamaguchi had figured out it was because they never came with any unwanted magical side effects.

“Yamaguchi! Hey!” Yamaguchi heard Yaichi’s voice yell. He turned and saw her walking over with Kuribayashi Runa in tow.

“Hey Yaichi. Hey Kuribayashi.” Runa just nodded in greeting. She was the first person Yamaguchi had ever met that was even shyer than he was.

“I didn’t know you were into Muggle sweets!” Yaichi commented as she peered at the shelves.

“Oh. Hah yeah. Well, I do come from a Muggle family and all,” Yamaguchi commented distractedly, as he picked up a bag to fill.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry. I forgot. I wasn’t trying to assume anything!” Yaichi began.

Yamaguchi cut her off, “No worries. It’s not a big deal at all Yaichi.”

He knew Yaichi would continue with the apology unless stopped. He changed the subject. “You ever try any?”

“Muggle sweets? Ohh, yeah. I really like Skittles.”

“Cool.”

“I-”

“Hey, did you hear,” A loud male voice interrupted, causing Yaichi to fall silent. A cluster of students walked past the trio, not bothering to lower their voices. “Kageyama Tobio is dating Hinata Shouyou!”

“What? No way! The King dating Hinata?” a girl’s skeptical tone replied.

“Yeah, no, I swear. They were at Madam Puddifoot’s earlier. Loads of people saw them,” the male voice replied, before the group moved out of earshot.

Yamaguchi saw Yaichi’s eyes widen in shock. He knew Yaichi and Hinata had some sort of close relationship where they were almost like siblings. He could see the worry forming on her face.

“Ah! Sorry Yamaguchi I’ve got to go. We’re still working on our project together, after dinner, right?”

“Yup.” Yaichi barely waited for his reply before she was hauling Runa away by the hand. The shy girl gave Yamaguchi a short nod in parting.

Yamaguchi went back to filling his bag of sweets. He went to the counter to pay, then headed back over to wait outside of Dominic’s for Tsukishima. He was only there for about five minutes before the blond-boy emerged. He didn’t say anything, merely started walking and Yamaguchi followed. They headed back to the Hog’s Head, where Tsukishima bought two butterbeers to go. Then they walked through the streets of Hogsmeade and the path back to the castle in what Yamaguchi felt was a very companionable silence. Technically they were just walking, but it held a special sort of feeling to it that Yamaguchi solely associated with Hogsmeade and Tsukishima. He felt sure that he would never feel the same way walking this path with anyone else.

Tsukishima liked to get back earlier than everyone else and just hang out in the Hufflepuff common room, which, at the moment, was empty save for a younger student or two who drifted through every now and then. Technically, Tsukishima could have actually come at regular hours, the other Hufflepuffs wouldn’t have kicked him out, but they would have tried to be friendly and talk to him.

Tsukishima sat on a large squishy couch and took out one of his new books to read. Yamaguchi reached into his cloak, and gave the bag of Muggle sweets to Tsukishima, unasked. Tsukishima accepted them without comment and handed Yamaguchi a butterbeer in return. This was their after Hogsmeade ritual. Yamaguchi savored every minute of it.

Yamaguchi settled into into the adjacent, equally squishy armchair.

“There are Skittles in this bag,” Tsukishima commented, eyes on his book.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry Tsukki. They’re for Yaichi. I’m working on a project with her later and she mentioned she likes them.” Tsukishima didn’t reply but Yamaguchi saw his brow give the slightest twitch, letting Yamaguchi know something he had said irritated the taller boy. Yamaguchi had no idea what it could be. He’d specifically placed the Skittles at the bottom of the bag so that they wouldn’t be intermixed with the other sweets and therefore, wouldn’t bother Tsukishima as he worked his way through the bag. Yamaguchi’s gut clenched; he knew he would probably spend the rest of the night trying to analyze just what it was that Tsukishima was annoyed about. For once he didn’t even have a guess.

“Oh yeah, while I was at Honeydukes, some people were saying that Hinata and Kageyama Tobio are dating,” Yamaguchi shared with Tsukishima, hoping to divert his attention.

Tsukishima’s nose scrunched, like it did whenever Kageyama, or anything that Tsukishima found distasteful, was mentioned. Yamaguchi knew Tsukishima loathed gossip, but Yamaguchi was willing to put up with some potential annoyance just to see Tsukishima’s nose scrunch. Yamaguchi secretly found it cute.

“Poor Hinata,” Tsukishima commented. And that was all. They went back into their silence. Yamaguchi didn’t mind. This was his stare-covertly-at-Tsukki time.

Whenever Tsukishima bought a new book Yamaguchi could count on the other boy being absorbed to the point of oblivion (or at least until his internal alarm clock told him students would be heading back from Hogsmeade). Yamaguchi was left to leer (covertly) at his leisure. It was the best kind of afternoon, in Yamaguchi’s opinion.

Yamaguchi tried to stare as unobviously as possible. He was holding his book up as though reading, but his gaze was really cast slightly above the page, appreciating all of the Tsukishima-glory in front of him.

One would think that all of the goldenrod yellow of the Hufflepuff common room would clash spectacularly with Tsukishima’s flaxen locks. But in Yamaguchi’s opinion, the color only served to enhance Tsukishima’s countenance. Tsukishima’s tongue was razor-sharp, his personality distilled icy venom, so many people overlooked the fact that he was startlingly, classically, _beautiful_. Yamaguchi could stare into those liquid honey eyes for days (if he was ever given the chance). He was fine with the fact other people were too dense (or possibly too terrified of Tsukishima’s slicing wit) to appreciate Tsukishima’s physical appearance. More for him.

Except…

There was someone who may have already appreciated it, in more ways than Yamaguchi had ever been able to. For the five hundred millionth time he thought of the vision of Kuroo and Tsukishima in the corridor. For the four hundred, ninety eighth millionth time he told himself to stop.

As always, it didn’t work.

Yamaguchi ruffled his hair in frustration.

“Problem?”

Tsukishima’s eyes peered at him, unblinking.

“Ah, heh. No. Sorry Tsukki.”

Tsukishima looked at him as though he wasn’t curious in the least as to what was troubling Yamaguchi. His stare was as clinical as a tongue depressor. Truth was, Tsukishima probably wasn’t curious in the least. Yamaguchi bit back a sigh.

“Here.” Tsukishima took the bag of Muggle sweets, which now only held Skittles, and knotted the top . Then, to Yamaguchi’s great surprise, instead of tossing the bag to Yamaguchi, Tsukishima got up and walked over, handing it to him. Then, to Yamaguchi’s even greater surprise, he didn’t return to his original seat, instead opting to sit in the spot on the couch closest to Yamaguchi. This meant that when he resumed reading, his hand, resting on the couch armrest, was mere inches from Yamaguchi’s own hand that was resting on the chair’s armrest. Theoretically, Yamaguchi could easily reach out and poke the nail of Tsukishima’s left pinky. Or he could tap him on the knuckles. Or on any of the joints of his fingers. Or he could put his entire hand over Tsukishima’s own hand.

Yamaguchi could make his move!

Miraculously, at that exact moment Tsukishima decided to adjust his sitting position and, in doing so, his hand flipped over. It was as if Yamaguchi’s thoughts had been so magnetically desperate they had pulled Tsukishima’s muscles into action.

It was a sign.

Definitely a sign.

Yamaguchi cast a furtive glance at Tsukishima’s face; he was reading with as much intent as he always did. Yamaguchi could do this. They were fifth years now. If he hesitated, Kuroo would swoop in and snatch Tsukishima away. Again. This time it would be worse, because Yamaguchi was fully aware that it could happen, and if it did happen, that meant Yamaguchi had no one else to blame but himself for taking inaction; a true coward’s lament. This last thought made Yamaguchi’s chest tighten in the same way it had hundreds of times before when he thought of someone taking Tsukishima away. As always, it hurt in a way Yamaguchi couldn’t put into words.

Yamaguchi’s hand was moving before he knew what was happening. It was like he was in a meditative trance. He was able to come to his senses just before any skin made contact and willed his body into a standstill. His hand hovered in the air above Tsukishima’s, indecisive. His forearm tensed.

He had made it this far, he might as well do it. His finger twitched, but his hand held steady.

He shouldn’t.

This was Tsukishima. He would probably loath something as cliché as someone casually trying to make a move on their best friend.

Though Kuroo had probably pulled some corny moves on Tsukishima. So why couldn’t Yamaguchi?

Oh right. The fact that Tsukishima could reject him. Hard.

The thoughts flooded his head. He needed to sort through them and make a goddamn choice. Spinelessness was not attractive. Nor was it a particularly pleasant experience.

Yamaguchi broke out of his internal struggle to see Tsukishima staring at him, one eyebrow slightly raised in a transparent, yet almost uncaring what-the-fuck-are-you-doing look. Yamaguchi then realized his hand had been hanging in the air over Tsukishima’s own... for possibly a full minute, or even two.

It took Yamaguchi all of three seconds to react. Then he was yanking his hand back and his mouth tried to catch up with the situation. It did not succeed. “I-, you-, I mean I need to go prepare. Prepare for meeting. The meeting. With Yaichi, and all. Some things I need to get together. Eh heh heh,” Yamaguchi tittered as he practically toppled over the chair as he tried to vault out of it sideways. He stumbled a few steps then righted himself.

“Er, you can let yourself out, right? Of course you can, what was I thinking, you don’t need a password to get out, stupid question. Ok then, well bye.” He turned and hurried to his room, unwilling to look back. There were three looks that Tsukishima had after surprising situations: deprecating amusement, annoyance, or serious internal contemplation. Yamaguchi wasn’t sure which would be the worst to see right now. Probably any one of them.

When he got to his room he didn’t cry. Instead he simply slumped to the floor by his bed, a seemingly boneless pile of goo. He supposed he could probably stay there until his meeting with Yaichi. Goo didn’t have to move, or go places. Also, he could probably avoid thinking about what had just happened. Goo wasn’t sentient.

Yes, Yamaguchi felt he could be goo.

He could be goo very well.

Goo.

_Goo._

 


	7. DTR or Lack Thereof

At the next afternoon’s prefects’ meeting Daichi was floating atop a very cushy cloud nine. For most of the Hogsmeade trip Daichi and Suga had wandered around alone. Or as alone as they could be when wandering in a small village filled with their schoolmates. Conveniently, though not so subtly, the others had magically appeared at the end of the trip, as which time Daichi had been obligated to fulfill his Head Boy duties and broke away to make sure no straggler students were left behind. Daichi had been disappointed to part with Suga, but upon his arrival to the Great Hall for dinnertime, he was ecstatic to find Suga sitting at the Gryffindor table with everyone. His Felix Felicitous-type luck had extended to this morning’s Potions class, during which Suga had joined him and Asahi for a three man’s potion project that spanned the next class as well. So Daichi didn’t even need to fry his brain trying to come up with an excuse to talk to Suga—at least for the rest of the week—after the project he was on his own.

But for now, he didn’t have to worry about any of that. He could just sit back and enjoy his near-state of Nirvana. While setting up the blackboard for the meeting he wondered how Suga’s handwriting looked. It was probably neat and tidy and pretty, just like Suga was. He thought about how unfortunate it was that Suga hadn’t started at Hogwart’s since their first year; he would have made a much better prefect than Kuroo. Then he would have been sitting here in this meeting, with Daichi. Daichi also pondered the possibility that maybe if Suga had been sorted earlier, he could have been put into Gryffindor. Then Daichi would have spent years going to class with Suga, eating in the Great Hall with Suga, and listening to Suga’s snores in the dead of night. Though who was Daichi kidding? Suga was perfect, he definitely didn’t snore.

If Daichi hadn’t been so immersed in his delusional stupor, he would have noticed the slight changes in the usual atmosphere of the room.

Such as:

-Though Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were sitting next to one another, they had arrived separately (unusual). Tsukishima was sitting quietly, not speaking and staring off into the distance with blasé yet cool indifference (not unusual) while Yamaguchi was doing the same, though with a modicum less of aloof coolness (unusual).

-Kuroo and Bokuto were quiet (extremely unusual) though it wasn’t the same awkward quietness of the aforementioned duo. They were both sitting next to each other, grinning foolishly, occasionally murmuring something to the other, which would cause either of them to giggle/laugh/pat one another on the back in a very bro-like manner (stupidly usual, though in that unusually quiet manner).

-Ennoshita and Michimiya were sitting as far away from one another as possible and both seemed to be studying (not unusual in the least, to be fair to Daichi). Though both had yet to even look up from their textbooks (slightly unusual, but could also be attributed to seriously studious students, which both Ennoshita and Michimiya were).

However, for the first time since Daichi had been made a prefect, or possibly, the first time since he had set foot on Hogwart’s grounds, Daichi was not paying attention to the demeanor of his fellow students. So it was with an unusually jovial manner he started the meeting.

\------

Yamaguchi stared listlessly at the back of Watari’s head, who was sitting in front of him. He had never noticed before, just how round Watari’s skull was. It was rather nice, and slightly mesmerizing. Lots of people couldn’t pull off a buzz cut like that, because of how awkwardly shaped their heads were. Namely, people like Yamaguchi himself. Yamaguchi had never actually tried a buzz cut, but he was positive his cranium would resemble a fuzzy baked yam if he did. People would laugh. It’d probably look so fantastically yam-like even Tsukishima would laugh. Tsukishima hadn’t outright laughed at him since they were twelve or so. However, Yamaguchi felt sure that Tsukishima laughing at him would be preferable to how Tsukishima was acting now.

Tsukishima was acting normal.

Normal.

Just thinking the word made a depressingly sour taste spread over Yamaguchi’s tongue.

Tsukishima was acting as though Yamaguchi hadn’t thoroughly embarrassed himself doing one of the most stressful things he’d ever done in his life. This flat out killed Yamaguchi’s spirits. Tsukishima’s reaction was so unambiguous that Yamaguchi wanted to cry; Tsukishima had so obviously friend zoned him that it hurt. Yesterday, Tsukishima had probably looked up from his reading, saw Yamaguchi about to grab his hand, and thought: _Huh. Oh well. Here is Yamaguchi, doing his weirdly, weird things again, that are not attractive in any way possible. Let me just take less than a second of my time to reflect on this, because he is always odd anyway, and has about as much sexual appeal as a cup of water._

Yamaguchi mentally sighed and directed what little attention he had to Daichi. He mildly registered that Daichi was acting odd today; it was sort of similar to the feeling of when parents or professors tried to be “hip with it” and were just screeching awkward, but you couldn’t even be mean about it, because they were trying so hard. Daichi kept laughing at random moments and throwing out compliments. That morning Daichi had asked Yamaguchi if he had gotten a new shirt, since it looked “really good” on him. This would have been flattering, had Yamaguchi not been wearing his year old school uniform that he wore every single other day as well.

Yamaguchi stopped his train of though. Just because he was having a horrible day didn’t mean he should be making fun of one of his favorite upper-classmen who, at that moment, laughed and drew extra-large exclamation marks on the board. Despite the lack of reaction from every other prefect in the room, Daichi just laughed harder. Yamaguchi definitely wouldn’t have minded getting a taste of whatever Koolaid Daichi had dipped into.

 It was a relatively short meeting, since all they were doing was reviewing how the Hogsmeade trip had went. Once it was over, without making eye contact, Yamaguchi mumbled a quick goodbye to Tsukishima and hurried off to double Defense Against the Dark Arts with Gryffindor. As a result of his hurrying he arrived almost ten minutes early. Aside from Professor Ukai (Jr.) the only other person in the room was Hinata. Rather than mope alone he decided to head over and sit next to Hinata. Hinata was relatively harmless and being around him was like being around a small warm fire.

“Hey Hinata.” Yamaguchi greeted, as he dumped his books on the table. Hinata startled, then flung his hands over the parchment he had been writing on. He did it rather poorly though, so Yamaguchi could still clearly see the variations of ‘Kageyama’ in a heart and ‘Kageyama Shouyou’ through his fingers. Yamaguchi outright gaped.

“Oh, phew. It’s just you Yamaguchi.” Hinata said, looking so utterly relieved that it was _just_ Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi felt half-offended. Even Hinata found him so unthreatening that being caught in an absolutely mortifying situation was no big deal, as long as it was _just_ Yamaguchi. Merlin, that was probably how Tsukishima saw him: ‘Just Yamaguchi’.

Yamaguchi only managed to remain offended for about three seconds, before he took in that the entire expanse of parchment Hinata had been writing on was covered in the disgusting Kageyama endearments. Yamaguchi found it sort of irritating, but adorable at the same time, given that it was Hinata. Hinata had been one of the first kids to talk to him on the Hogwarts Express and Yamaguchi had a certain fondness for him.

“So your date with Kageyama went well then?” Yamaguchi questioned.

“Ah! Heheheh! How could you tell?” Hinata asked in an adorably abashed manner. He accidently jarred the desk, causing his ink bottle to teeter dangerously before righting itself.

“Er, just a guess.” Yamaguchi said, trying not to stare too pointedly at the obviously telling piece of parchment in front of Hinata.

“Wait. How did you know I went on a date with Kageyama?!” Hinata asked, eyes wide. “Did Yaichi tell you?”

“Uh…” Yamaguchi was at a loss. Somehow all of the ways in which Hinata could be dense were still startling at times. “Loads of people saw you and Kageyama at Madam Puddifoot’s. It’s basically been all that anyone’s been talking about.”

“It has?!” Hinata looked truly taken aback. “Why?!”

“Well… Kageyama is pretty much the most famous up and coming Quidditch player since Albus Potter.”  Yamaguchi stated.

“Oh. Right.” Hinata looked contemplative for a few moments. Then he looked troubled. He put down his quill. “Oh no. ”he whispered.

“What?” Yamaguchi asked, taking out his own quill.

“Yamaguchi! I didn’t even tell Kageyama it was a date!” Hinata let his head fall onto the desk.

Yamaguchi quirked a brow. “Why do you have to tell him?”

“Huh?” Hinata turned his head to look at Yamaguchi.

“Hinata,” Yamaguchi turned to Hinata, giving him his full attention.  “You guys spent the entire day together, alone. You went to Madam Puddifoot’s, which speaks for itself. From what Yaichi told me (Yaichi had indeed, spilled the details to Yamaguchi the night before, while working on their project) you both even dressed up and everything. It’s not possible Kageyama couldn’t not know it was a date.” Yamaguchi reasoned. Granted, Hinata seemed to think that Kageyama wouldn’t understand, but there was no possible way that anyone could be denser than Hinata. Yamaguchi hadn’t exactly talked to Kageyama at all, so he didn’t actually know anything about his character besides the fact that he scowled a lot, but it just wasn’t possible.

“I assure you, it was really obvious it was a date.” Yamaguchi said reassuringly. “Heh, I didn’t even see you guys, and just from hearing the details I knew it was a date!”

“Huh.” Hinata looked thoughtful. “That makes sense. I guess you’re right.” he slowly concluded aloud. Other students had started to trickle in. Hinata rolled up his parchment.

“So how was your date with Tsukishima?” Hinata asked, not exactly quietly. Yamaguchi’s eyes bugged out.

“What?! Yamaguchi, you and Tsukishima are dating?!” Inuoka, who had just sat down at the table next to them, practically shouted. Or at least it sounded like shouting in Yamaguchi’s mind.

“What! No! No!” Yamaguchi practically yelled himself. Inuoka gave him a look, then just shrugged, distracted by the arrival of Lev, whom he had become particularly chummy with.

“Hinata!” Yamaguchi whispered frantically. “Tsukishima and I are not dating!” Yamaguchi balled his hands into fists, to keep them from grabbing onto Hinata’s head in desperation.

“What?! Man, I was so sure you guys were. How could I have gotten it wrong?”

“I don’t know.” Yamaguchi whispered, trying to will his ears to not turn red, as they did whenever he lied to someone else about Tsukishima. “But we definitely aren’t dating.” He said, very firmly. This seemed to be enough to convince Hinata, but it also reminded Yamaguchi of his current sad predicament, which caused him to sink back into his state of self-pitying goo. The ‘Hinata and Kageyama Love Saga’ had been a fairly effective distraction for a few minutes. Now Yamaguchi was left to wallow about his own sad love life throughout the entire class.

They spent the lesson learning about Fiendfyre and other forms of magical fire. Yamaguchi was glad when class ended, because it was Monday, and on Mondays he had a free block before dinner. He planned to just head back to his dormitory and eat one or two or ten bricks of Honeyduke’s chocolate.

Lev caught up with him after a few corridors.

“So I just heard Yamaguchi, congratulations!” Lev said loudly, clapping Yamaguchi so hard on the back he almost toppled over.

“What?” Yamaguchi asked, trying to steady himself. He’d grown accustomed to Lev’s outrageously boisterous attitude over the past month.

“About you and Tsukishima dating. Congratulations!”

“I already told Inuoka that wasn’t true!” Yamaguchi tried not to panic. If it was just Inuoka that had told Lev, then the rumor could be nipped in the bud here and now.

“Inuoka wasn’t the one who told me,” Lev said happily, grinning. “Don’t worry I won’t tell anyone! I’m just happy for you!”

Yamaguchi groaned. Damn Hinata and Inuoka and their loud-as-Lev voices. Luckily, there was no one else in the hallway at the moment.

“Lev,” Yamaguchi began, turning the corner to the last corridor, “I am not dating Tsukishima!”

“Well thank you for sharing,” an amused voice said. Yamaguchi froze, horrified. The last person he wanted to see at that moment stood before him. Well, the second to last person; Tsukishima would have probably been the last.

Kuroo.

“Hey there Yamabear! Lev!” Bokuto greeted happily from behind the rooster-headed Slytherin Captain.

“Bokuto! Kuroo!” Lev responded, just as happily. Yamaguchi just continued staring at Kuroo, who was looking back at him, a slight smile on his face.

“Trouble in paradise?” Kuroo asked, with such feigned nonchalance Yamaguchi’s teeth clenched. For some reason Kuroo was out of uniform in a deep red sweater and black pants that made him look poisonously gorgeous. Yamaguchi hated him.

He pushed back his hair and walked toward Yamaguchi, a decidedly friendly smirk on his face. Maybe that grin fooled everyone else, but Yamaguchi wasn’t everyone else. “Need someone to talk to? I know how difficult Tsukki can be-”

Yamaguchi punched him in the face.

It was a good punch. At least Yamaguchi thought it was a good punch, since a very loud crack had filled the air when he’d made contact. Though Kuroo hadn’t fallen over… or even staggered back much, if at all.

Everyone froze. Even Kuroo, whose lip began to slowly drip blood. Even Yamaguchi, who had a perfectly stunned expression on his face.

He felt no consolation when he saw the blood begin to fall from Kuroo’s mouth, because holy shit, he had just punched Kuroo. Kuroo, who was basically six feet of solid panther muscle and was probably going to spring at him any second and tear his throat out. To top it off, Yamaguchi’s hand was starting to throb and feel strangely hot. No one moved; Yamaguchi could practically feel the surprise radiating off of everyone in the hallway.

Suddenly, Bokuto started laughing. Outrageously and uncontrollably laughing. Yamaguchi watched, horrified, as Bokuto bent over, full out belly laughing, and a distinctly annoyed expression crossed Kuroo’s face. It was clear that Kuroo’s annoyance was directed towards Bokuto’s laughter, and not even toward Yamaguchi. This annoyed Yamaguchi.

“Hey! I’m the one who just punched you!” he practically shouted, completely out of character. This only made Bokuto laugh harder. Yamaguchi spared a glance at Lev, who was watching the entire scene unfold with his mouth hanging open.

Kuroo ignored him and wiped his hand across his mouth. The blood that came away was a shade lighter than the obviously expensive sweater he was wearing. He quirked a brow as he examined the claret smear on the back of his hand, then turned and smacked a still laughing Bokuto on the head. This only made Bokuto snort. “Why’re you hitting me? Yamabear’s the one that punched you!”

Kuroo ignored Bokuto’s comment. He brought his hand back to the side of his mouth and gingerly his fingers probed the slightly swollen flesh. “Ow.” he said softly, without much feeling, at the exact same time Yamaguchi moaned, “Owww,” and clutched his hand. The adrenaline had worn off and his hand was definitely not ok. It felt like a deep aching fire had spread across his knuckles. Yamaguchi had never punched anyone before, despite getting into numerous fights, because he had always read that a person could break their hand from a punch. His hand definitely felt broken. If not broken, at least fractured. If not fractured, at least sprained. He’d never broken anything before, though he had sprained his ankle falling off a broomstick when he was eight. This definitely hurt as much as that time, at least, as much as he remembered it hurting.

Kuroo spared him a glance, and for a second Yamaguchi was sure he saw an amused expression pass over Kuroo’s face before it settled into a decidedly neutral demeanor. Kuroo calmly took his wand out of his pocket and waved it at himself. Yamaguchi watched as Kuroo’s slightly split lip mended back together. Kuroo turned and looked at Yamaguchi, his face a study of contemplation. Then he smirked his irritating Kuroo smirk and pocketed his wand. “That will teach you to hit someone when you don’t even know how to properly throw a punch,” Kuroo informed him, as though he was relaying an extremely kind message to Yamaguchi. “Let’s go Bokuto.”

“Aww, but Yamaguchi broke his hand!” Bokuto whined, still looking half-amused. “That’s some soulless stuff, leaving Yamaguchi injured when you can help him.”

“You help him then,” Kuroo called over his shoulder as he walked past Yamaguchi.

“Man! Kuroo, you know I suck at healing spells.”  He turned to Yamaguchi. “Sorry, Yamabear, I suck at healing spells,” he said to Yamaguchi, as though Yamaguchi hadn’t just heard him tell Kuroo. “Lev, you any good?”

“Absolutely horrible,” Lev replied. He seemed to have recovered from his surprise and was currently grinning as widely as Bokuto.

“Damn, thought so.” Bokuto pulled out his wand. “Expecto Patronum!” He recited loudly, and a large silvery owl burst from his wand and flew down the hall. “Don’t worry, help is on the way.” He patted Yamaguchi’s shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture. Instead, it jarred Yamaguchi’s arm, and thus his hand, causing him to whimper. “Whoops, sorry. Don’t worry Michimiya’s the best when it comes to healing!”

Bokuto walked down the hallway. “Hey Kuroo! Wait up!” they heard him call. They stood in silence for a few seconds, Yamaguchi cradling his hand against his front.

“Bokuto?” Michimiya’s voice floated down the corridor.

“Over here!” Lev shouted back.

Michimiya appeared from the shadows. “Yamaguchi? Lev?” She questioned in confusion, then she saw Yamaguchi. “Oh no, what happened?!” She hurried over, pulling out her wand.

“He punched Kuroo in the face!” Lev informed her proudly, as Yamaguchi internally groaned. Telling the Head Girl you purposely inflicted bodily harm to another student was synonymous to asking for a month’s worth of detention.

“Oh, no, is it broken?” Michimiya asked, causing Yamaguchi to mentally rear back.

Was he not in trouble?

“Looks like it,” Lev confirmed agreeably. Michimiya examined Yamaguchi’s hand for a moment before slowly circling her wand and murmuring spells beneath her breath. Yamaguchi watched (and heard) as his bones settled back into place.

“Thanks,” His voice came out slightly raspy. He cleared his throat.

“Let’s get you into the common room and I’ll make you a nice cup of tea,” Michimiya said soothingly, as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and ushered him toward the entrance. Yamaguchi let himself be led for about ten feet before he realized he was about to do something idiotic. He tried to tell his conscience to shut up, but he couldn’t keep it down. His mouth opened. “Am I in trouble?”

Michimiya gave him a gently amused smile. “Yamaguchi, I’m sure there was a good reason you hit Kuroo,” she said reasonably, as though the Head Girl excusing violence was an entirely ordinary occurrence. The confusion must have shown on his face.

“Though, it’s only this once,” she said, sparing a glance at Lev, who was following along silently. “Fighting is never allowed between students. Got that?” She directed the question at both of them.

“Yes,” Lev replied dutifully. Yamaguchi just nodded his head in the affirmative as his mind reeled.

He had just punched Kuroo.

Punched.

Kuroo.

Super strong, super handsome, super deadly Kuroo.

Kuroo who could have, at any moment, grabbed Yamaguchi’s head with his bare hands and crushed it between his palms as easily as crushing a tomato for tomato juice.

Yamaguchi knew he should be panicking, but only one thought kept materializing in his head.

What would Tsukki think?

\------

“Hinata, hey!” Kageyama’s voice called after Hinata as he exited the Great Hall. Hinata tried to contain his excitement.  Nishinoya had advised him that one of the mistakes newly dating couples often made was spending too much time together. So since they had spent the entire day together during the Hogsmeade trip, then had practiced Quidditch together in the morning, Hinata had decided to eat dinner with Kouji and Izumi, though he had been truly dying to eat it with Kageyama. So the fact that Kageyama was now calling after him made him really happy. Maybe Kageyama had been dying to eat with him as well. That thought made him really, really happy.

“What is it?” Hinata asked, as Kageyama jogged up to him. Kageyama had changed into a long sleeved shirt that was an inky midnight blue. He wore black pants and black high tops, and in Hinata’s opinion he looked really, really good. Though, he always looked good to Hinata. Hinata had noticed Kageyama’s wardrobe consisted of lots of blues and greys, blacks, and whites, that always looked simple, yet somehow fashionable and expensive. A few weeks ago Hinata had been somewhat jealous of how Kageyama’s outfits always looked so flawlessly put together; now he just appreciated the effect.

“Ah, uh, I want to talk to you,” Kageyama hedged, suddenly glancing, rather self-consciously, at Kouji and Izumi who were holding back to see if they should wait for Hinata. Hinata waved them off, and after matching idiotic, knowing grins lit their faces, they left. Hinata tried not to blush.

“What is it?”

“I, uh...” Kageyama glanced around the hallway at the other students. “Here, follow me.” He gestured to the Front Entrance.

Outside, the autumn sky was lit with thousands of stars. The air was a bit chilly, but since Hinata was still in his school uniform he didn’t mind it so much, especially since he was curious as to what Kageyama wanted.

Kageyama led him a little ways to the side, near the shadowy recession of the castle wall. It wasn’t exactly romantic, but since it _was_ very private, a tinge of nervous anticipation lit across Hinata’s chest.

“So, what is it?” Hinata asked, trying to sound casual.

“Here. These are for you.” Kagayama shoved a black bag at him that Hinata hadn’t noticed he was carrying.

“For me?” Hinata echoed, startled, peering down at the bag in his hands. He fumbled a bit, opening the bag, because for some reason his palms had apparently decided to become sweaty. When he reached in his fingers wrapped around something supremely lush and squishy. He pulled it out, squinting in the dim evening light as he tried to identify what it was.

“Gloves?” He questioned, unsure. He took a few steps back, breaking from the shadows into the moonlight.

“Holy shit,” he breathed. In his hands were the Chinese Fireball Quidditch gloves he’d been eyeing at the shop at Spintwitches. The ones that retailed for over three hundred galleons.

“Wha-? What are these for?”

“For you,” Kageyama said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“For me?” Hinata echoed, not comprehending Kageyama’s words.                                             

“Yeah,” Kageyama answered, his cheeks suspiciously pink. Hinata didn’t even notice, he just stared at the gloves in his hands, looking at them as though he wasn’t sure they were real.

“For me?” Hinata echoed.

Kageyama nodded.

\-----

Kageyama stood there, watching Hinata look at the gloves as though they were as foreign as an asteroid that had somehow landed in the palms of his hands.

“Kageyama… these are three hundred galleon gloves,” Hinata informed him, finally looking up. His eyes were large with disbelief.

“Yeah,” Kageyama agreed, ducking his head a bit.

“Three hundred galleons,” Hinata repeated, still looking at him in disbelief.

“Uh, yeah,” Kageyama confirmed. The smallest whisper of doubt touched his mind. Had this been a bad choice of present after all? Hinata had looked at the gloves with such want in his eyes. Or at least, Kageyama had thought it had been want.

“I-, Wha-, They’re really for me?” Hinata asked again a touch of comprehension finally creeping into his voice.

“Yes, moron! How many times do I have to say it?” Kageyama snapped before he could stop himself. His hands clenched inside his pockets.

“Wha- Why?” Hinata asked, in the same awed voice, as his eyes looked back at the gloves, searching—looking—so wonderingly over them that Kageyama felt his throat tighten up for some reason.

“Your present for making the team.”

“What? My present? You didn’t have to get me one,” Hinata said, looking back up at him.

“I know,” Kageyama said simply.

“They’re too expensive,” Hinata said suddenly putting the gloves back into the bag, “I can’t take-”

“Idiot! Who’s the one always saying that I have so much money my last name should be Malfoy?  Who’s the one who always rags on me about having sponsors before I’m even able to play in a professional league?! Just take them! You deserve them for how hard you worked to make the team!” Kageyama barked, more forcefully then he meant to. He stopped himself one he realized how loud his voice was and took a deep breath to calm down.

Hinata didn’t respond. He just looked down at the gloves, as though thinking. Finally, after a few moments he looked back up at Kageyama, in a way that no one had ever looked at Kageyama before. Kageyama didn’t even have a name for the way Hinata was looking at him. It made his stomach feel like it was being sucked into a void from the inside, out. It made him wish Hinata would look at him like that forever.

A silent, secret wish.

Abruptly, Hinata walked toward him, his hands still clutching the gloves. He came and stood in front of Kageyama, too close, way too close. Carefully, he rose, on tiptoes, and very gently he pressed his lips to Kageyama’s cheek. It was so impossibly gentle, for Hinata—for anyone—that Kageyama felt it press inside his chest, in the same place his heartbeat was.

Hinata took a step back, away from Kageyama, and in the half-light of the moon Kageyama could see how perfectly normal Hinata’s face looked. Yet something, the moonlight, or the starlight, was making it look more than ordinary. It was as though every detail was so intense in clarity, Kageyama felt he was in the opposite of a dream.

“Hey! What are you guys doing out here? Go to bed!” the groundskeeper (What was his name? Takuro, Kageyama remembered.) shouted from somewhere from Kageyama’s right.

Kageyama wasn’t sure how it happened, but he found himself walking back to the Slytherin common room alone. He remembered walking back into the castle with Hinata. Hinata saying something in his babbling, happy voice. Hinata leaving, still holding the gloves to his chest tightly. It was all distinctly clear in his mind, yet Kageyama felt as removed as if he was seeing it all from beneath the glassy layer of a pensieve.

When he got to his four poster bed, he laid down and very fastidiously pulled the curtains closed. He tried to gather his thoughts, which seemed to be adrift and scattered like fallen leaves in a lake. One image kept floating into focus: how Hinata had looked in the moonlight. His face had been so intangibly beautiful Kageyama couldn’t think of anything else. He felt like his body was falling though he was firmly lying atop his coverlet. The air seemed cold and thick; he had to force himself to take deep steady breaths in order to feel like he wasn’t drowning.

After lying there for ten minutes, he arrived at a very startling conclusion.

He was in love with Hinata.

\------

Kageyama wasn’t sure what someone was supposed to do when they were in love with someone else.  He ruminated on his strategy long into the night. As a result, the next morning he woke up late, missed breakfast, and was exorbitantly grumpy.

Luckily for Kageyama, being exorbitantly grumpy wasn’t much different than his normal demeanor, so no one else noticed.

He needed to talk to Suga. Or someone. Anyone. Though he didn’t really have any close friends to talk to. There was Kindaichi, who he knew from his younger Quidditch Junior League years (they hadn’t got on well then, but were alright now). Then there was Kunimi, who was Kindaichi’s friend. Kageyama ate most of his meals with them, or Suga, when he wasn’t eating with Hinata, or Hinata and his friends. However, he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about this with Kunimi or Kindaichi. Firstly, the thought of doing so was just fucking weird. Secondly, it was just fucking weird.

Kageyama found himself completely distracted in all his morning classes. As a result he accidently added powdered unicorn horn instead of unicorn hair into his Quick Talent potion, and as a result, the whole concoction had turned a deep raspberry pink color and exploded in his face. Any other day he would have been terribly embarrassed to have a face full of deep pink glop, but since today was the first day of his startling revelation, he was only mildly frustrated. When lunchtime came around, he headed back to his room, rather than risk going to the Great Hall and seeing Hinata. He didn’t want anything bad to happen. He wasn’t sure anything bad would necessarily happen, per se, but better to be safe and have it not happen, because he really had no goddamn clue about what he was doing.

He was having second thoughts about this whole “being in love" thing.  He realized while contemplating his situation in Charms class, that maybe talking to Suga wouldn’t be such a good idea. Kageyama wasn’t exactly 100% sure he was in love with Hinata. Maybe it was only 91% or even 83%. The other reason he was practically having a mental fit was because he had realized something else while reflecting in Charms class: Hinata had made it clear to him that he did not see Kageyama in a romantic way. He had, afterall, admitted that Kageyama had been his last resort to go to Madam Puddifoot’s. Being the last resort wasn’t exactly a confidence boosting position. Kageyama at least knew that one had to actually be on the Quidditch field, and not in the stands, in order to qualify to play the game. Actually, the last resort might not even be in the stands, it was probably that guy that stood by the stadium doors hoping to get in, only to be sold a fake “Quiditch” ticket by a scalper.

Kageyama wasn’t liking his odds.

He heaved himself out of his bed. He really did need to talk to Suga. He knew enough from past experience, and much forced therapy, from both his official therapist and Suga, that he was likely to get nowhere on his own. Normally, he would be stubborn and refuse to talk to them, at least for a good month or two, but this was about Hinata. He couldn’t wait that long now. Kageyama went down into the common room, hoping Suga would finish lunch early and show up.

\------

Thirty minutes later, Suga walked out of his common room full of motherly glee. Poor, not-so-tiny-anymore Kageyama was having his first crush. It was adorable. Absolutely, positively adorable. Suga was tempted to take pictures to commemorate the occasion, but he was positive Kageyama would hate him if he did something so embarrassing. Maybe he would sneak into Kageyama’s room at night and take a few. It wasn’t everyday Kageyama took his first steps towards becoming an emotionally healthy individual.

Suga headed to Transfiguration, slipping into a seat at the back of the room just as Professor Naoi started class. He kept half of his mind on the lesson, one fourth on Kageyama’s new predicament, and the last quarter on a certain mahogany haired Gryffindor with lusciously broad shoulders.

Suga wasn’t stupid. As soon as Iwaizumi and Oikawa had disappeared at Honeydukes, he had realized he was being set up. That and the fact that Daichi’s underclassmen were so outrageously unsubtle with their winking and overzealous praise of Daichi it was just pathetically cute. On top of all that, Daichi kept “happening” to turn up wherever Suga was in the last few days, or just happened to find reasons to talk to Suga during their classes.

Suga didn’t mind though. It definitely didn’t hurt that Daichi was on the right side of gorgeous, especially since he was the type of gorgeous guy who didn’t know just how gorgeous he was.

Suga stared at the back of Daichi’s head. As though he felt Suga’s gaze Daichi glanced behind him. Suga didn’t miss how Daichi’s eyes slightly widened in mild panic. Suga gave Daichi a small smile and enjoyed the way a slight tinge of red appeared on the sides of Daichi’s cheeks and how a hesitant, self-conscious smile fell across Daichi’s own face.

Daichi turned back to the front and Suga continued to idly stare at him. Even under the thick Hogwarts sweater and robes the muscles on Daichi’s shoulders stood out. It was plain as day he probably had a deliciously fit back. When one looked at Daichi, and his muscles straining against his typically well-fitting clothes, it was easy to tell he was very, very well-toned. All over. Sometimes Suga felt the urge to reach out and squeeze one of Daichi’s obviously firm pecs just to see how hilarious his reaction would be. Also, Suga just wanted to feel the tight flesh beneath his fingertips.

Daichi’s abs were probably lickable.

Suga mentally hummed to himself while taking notes. When class was over he purposefully took his time to gather up his things. When he got up from his chair, Daichi was standing there. The very tips of his ears were a cherry red.

Adorable.

“Hey. Walk to Potions together?” Daichi said, with such assumed nonchalance Suga internally giggled.

“Sure!” Suga agreed cheerfully.

Daichi started talking about some committee and Suga pretended to pay attention. When they got to the fourth floor hallway, at the end of the sea of students Suga saw a very familiar head of sleek, black hair. As he visually honed in he saw the black head of hair approach a very orange head of hair. A thrill of glee went through his body.

“Detour!” he informed Daichi cheerfully. Daichi started to ask what he meant, but Suga put an end to it by grabbing onto Daichi’s hand. Daichi immediately shut up.

He had to pull Daichi along a bit, because he still had to get through the sea of students, and Kageyama and Hinata were moving pretty fast. At the end of the hall he swung a left, and was just in time to see them disappear to the right at the end of the hall.  He broke into a trot, pulling Daichi along firmly.

“Suga, what are we-”

“Shh!” Suga gestured to Daichi, giving him a big smile. He hurried to the end of the corridor then stopped as he heard Kageyama’s distinctly low voice. He let go of Daichi’s hand. With another silencing gesture to Daichi, he cautiously peeked around the corner. Kageyama stood there with Hinata. Luckily, the two were so absorbed with one another they didn’t notice Suga.

“So, uh. I wanted to ask you something,” Kageyama began. Suga internally squeed to the tenth degree. Kageyama was actually taking his advice!

“Uh, should we be listening to them?” Daichi whispered, after taking his own peek around the corner.

Suga just smiled at him and patted his cheek. He was rewarded with a slight blush from Daichi.

“So. Yeah. I was thinking…” Kageyama trailed off. Suga couldn’t help but take another peek. Kageyama’s fists were balled at his sides. He knew Kageyama enough to know that he was even more agitated than usual. He didn’t know Hinata that well, but Hinata was an easy person to read and he was obviously nervous about what Kageyama was about to say.

“What?” Hinata prompted, when Kageyama didn’t continue.

“Uh. Well. I was wondering… if you’d like to go practice Quidditch with me tomorrow morning?” Kageyama finished. Suga almost face faulted. His advice to Kageyama had been to clearly, distinctly invite Hinata somewhere, to make it very apparent that it was a date. He had even told him to firmly emphasize that it would just be the two of them. Actually his first advice had been to just confess to Hinata, but Kageyama had vetoed that option quickly. So Suga had suggested the “very obviously ask out on a date” route, thinking that not even Kageyama could not mess up such a simple and straightforward approach. Apparently, he had been wrong.

“What?” Hinata asked, obviously confused. “Weren’t we already going to do that?”

“Yes,” Kageyama confirmed. “But… after we could eat lunch. Just the two of us.” Suga heard the emphasis in Kageyama’s voice on the last words. He resisted the urge to laugh in incredulity. He spared a glance at Daichi, who seemed to have forgotten any sense of his earlier morals and appeared just as absorbed in the developing drama as Suga.

Luckily, or unluckily for Kageyama, Hinata was just as dense as Kageyama was.

“Uh, that’s what we always do.” Hinata quirked a brow. “Kageyama you’re being really weird. What’s going on?”

“I-” Kageyama seemed at a loss. Suga saw him imperceptibly squirm. Hinata grinned.

“What’s wrong?  Did I hit you too hard on the head yesterday during practice?” Hinata reached up and poked Kageyama in the forehead.

“No! Idiot! I just want to have lunch with you!” Kageyama exploded, finally seeming to reach his limit. It was so Kageyama Suga couldn’t stop himself and laughed out loud.

Immediately he pulled his head back and looked at Daichi in amused panic. Daichi’s face mirrored his panic, minus the amusement. “Who’s there?” Kageyama’s voice said, as footsteps headed toward them. Suga looked around; it was a long hallway, they weren’t going to make it to the end. Suga grabbed Daichi’s hand and shoved him into the alcove a few feet down the hallway. Then before Daichi could react, he grabbed Daichi’s head and kissed him.

Daichi’s lips were firm and soft, and his masculine clean smell instantly flooded Suga’s senses. He felt Daichi stiffen against him, most likely from shock. Suga moved his own lips determinedly, urging Daichi to do the same. After a few seconds Daichi responded, and Suga completely forgot about the impending appearance of Kageyama and Hinata. He completely forgot about everything else around him except for Daichi. The steady, solid weight of Daichi’s arms slid around his waist, and Suga mildly registered Daichi’s hands grabbing onto his sides. Suga slid his own hands downward, along Daichi’s neck, where the skin felt so warm and hot, then up into the back of his thick hair. He pulled Daichi’s head down toward him, closer, opening his mouth invitingly. He heard Daichi groan in the back of his throat and a jolt of burning want slid through Suga’s body.

“Um… ew.” Suga mildly registered Hinata’s voice. He ignored it, but Daichi pulled away. Suga’s head fell against Daichi’s front. He took quick, deep breaths trying to steady his heart, which seemed to be beating too rapidly.

“Sorry,” Suga atoned into the soft cloth of Daichi’s sweater. It was a bit worn, from being over washed, but Daichi’s heat radiated from beneath the material.

“Uh,” Suga heard Daichi clear his throat, “you two shouldn’t be skipping class.”

“But what about you two?” Hinata blurted out, and Suga laughed quietly into the fabric against his lips. He felt Daichi give a slight shiver. Suga felt a familiar, bubbly feeling creep into his conscious. He tried to stop it, but like almost every other time, he failed. Knowing that what he was about to do was a horrible, morally bad idea that bordered on outright hilarity, he slowly moved his head an inch to the left, so that his lips fell against Daichi’s bare collarbone. He felt Daichi twitch.

“Just go back to class and I won’t take any points away from you.” Since Suga was so close that he was literally able to feel the vibrations in Daichi’s voice, he could hear the slight strain underlying his tone. Suga grinned against Daichi’s skin; he was definitely going to be punished in another life for this.

“Ok,” Kageyama said, at the same time Suga opened his mouth and sucked a bit of Daichi’s skin in-between his teeth.

“Fuck!” Daichi gasped, as his entire body jolted.

“Uhhh what?” Suga heard Hinata ask, confusion apparent in his voice.  Suga bit his lip to stop from laughing as Daichi’s hands dug hard into Suga’s sides.

“Nothing! Nothing! Just go. Go now.”

“Kageyama just go. This is so embarrassing I can’t even look at you,” Suga spoke up, finally self-shamed into helping Daichi.  He could practically hear Kageyama shrug at Hinata. The cloth of their robes rustled as they turned and walked away. Daichi and Suga stood frozen as Hinata and Kageyama walked down the hall, then turned the corner. When the sound of their footsteps faded into nonexistence, Daichi pulled Suga away from him.

“Are you crazy?!” Daichi asked in disbelief, as Suga exploded in laughter.

“Daichi, I’m sorry,” Suga gasped. “I’m so sorry!” He tried to press a hand over his mouth to contain his laughter but it spilled out. When his laughter got away from him like this, it was best to just let it run its course. He hoped Daichi wouldn’t become offended, he was genuinely beginning to like him. Daichi just stared at him, expression veiled with apparent shock.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Daichi informed him, incredulous.

“I know. I know.” Suga paused as another fit of laughter worked its way out. “I can’t either. I know you don’t believe me, but I’m honestly sorry.”

He put a hand on Daichi’s shoulder to steady himself as he laughed. Daichi grumbled a bit, but didn’t pull away. When Suga’s laughter finally subsided he looked up to see Daichi looking at him with an exasperated, almost fond look. Suga gave him a wide smile, and watched in delight as a reluctant grin edged its way across Daichi’s face.

“We should get to class,” Daichi said.

“Right.” Suga removed his hand from Daichi’s shoulder. “Lead the way, Head Boy-san!”

Daichi shook his head in amusement and pushed off of the wall. He started down the hallway.

Suga paused for a second to smooth his robes, then followed.

“We should do this again sometime. It was almost amusing,”  Suga said cheerfully.

“If this was only _almost_ amusing to you, I don’t know if I can handle what you actually consider amusing,” Daichi commented, as they rounded the corner.

“But you handled yourself so well! Very authoritative. I mean, the Head Boy being caught by his underclassmen skipping class for a make out session?” Suga teased. He was pleased to see a blush spread across Daichi’s cheeks.

“So what happens when you break the rules? Do you take points away from yourself? How does that work?” Suga joked, smoothing over any awkward embarrassment before it could bloom.

“Very funny,” Daichi muttered sarcastically as he checked his watch.

“Because Hinata DID have a point. If you had taken points away from them, as per the unspoken moral code of Head Boy conduct, you would have had to take points away from yourself as well.” Suga looked over at Daichi to see him grinning and shaking his head in incredulous amusement. They reached the potions room and Daichi, very gentlemanly, held the door open for Suga. They slipped inside.

“Sorry, professor. I had to do something for my Head Boy duties and asked Suga to help. I forgot to send a note,” Daichi said to Professor Takeda.

“Ok, not a problem Sawamura! Just get to work you two,” Takeda gave them a gentle smile. They headed over to the table in the back, that Asahi was sitting at alone.

Suga gave Daichi a look. “Ohhh, lying to the professor,” he whispered. “You’re just breaking rules with wanton abandon now. You’ll have to get your badge revoked soon.”

“This just shows that you are a very, very bad influence,” Daichi whispered back, a playful glint in his eyes. Suga grinned.

“Where were you two?” Asahi asked, stirring a deep purple liquid in the caldron counterclockwise.

“Got lost,” Suga said happily at the same time Daichi said: “Helping out a student.” They both paused for a split second.

“I was helping out a lost student, who was Suga,” Daichi correctly lamely.

Asahi sighed. “I’m just going to choose not to comment further,” he mumbled, using his left hand to turn the page of his Potions book in front of him. “Now help me out please. We’re about to be on the step where everything has to be added in exact timed increments or else we risk instant combustion.”


	8. Just Cuteness All Around

 “Iwaizumi!” A female voice broke through Iwaizumi’s concentration as he tried to chart the position of the stars from Ancient Egypt exactly a hundred and thirty years prior. He looked up to see Misaki Hana standing there, out of uniform in a sundress that was some sort of shade of light green.

“Oh, hey Misaki. What’s up?”

“I’m just making sure you’re still free later today to help me?” Misaki asked smiling.

“Yeah I’m still free to help,” replied Iwaizumi.

“Great! Thanks!” Misaki beamed even brighter. “I’ll just be going now.” 

“Okay,” Iwaizumi rubbed his eyes, which felt dry from staring at the text in front of him for the past hour

“Nice dress,” commented Oikawa, who had been seemingly studying his own Astronomy text during the exchange.

 “Oh. Um, thank you!” Misaki said, then walked away and disappeared down a library aisle.

Iwaizumi rolled his neck, trying to get out the cricks that had unknowingly formed. He was just about to get back to his work when Oikawa spoke, in an overtly cheerful voice that immediately sent alarm bells off in Iwaizumi’s head. “Iwa-chan, who was that?”

Iwaizumi mentally sighed. “Please don’t insult my intelligence and pretend that you don’t already know the name of every seventh year girl here.” Iwaizumi paused. “And probably sixth year as well,” he added as an afterthought.

Oikawa ignored his comment, continuing to talk in his too bright tone, “Why do you need to be free later? What’s going on.”

This time Iwaizumi sighed aloud, “I’m just helping her out with the Ancient Runes project. That’s it. ”

“Why did she ask you? It’s not like you’re that good in Ancient Runes.”

“Oikawa, I’ve had full marks on every assignment and test we’ve had so far.”

“Yes but why specifically _you_? She could have asked someone like Head Boy Wonder or Professor Oomizuki for help, he’s obviously one of the hottest professors here.”

Iwaizumi choose to ignore Oikawa’s last comment. “Oikawa we’ll be studying in the common room, surrounded by everyone else. I’m just doing this to help her out, nothing more,” Iwaizumi informed him, finally addressing Oikawa’s unspoken (and obvious) jealousy. “She fixed a spell gone wrong for me the week before last, remember I told you about it?”

Tanaka and Noya had asked Iwaizumi if they could practice their Vanity Charms on him. Against his better judgement, Iwaizumi had said yes. The result had been a smattering of large red rashes across his entire face, with a dash of large purple bumps, and eyebrows that grew an inch longer in length. Not even Daichi had been able to fix it. Iwaizumi had been about to head to the Hospital Wing when Misaki had walked into the common room and said she knew how to fix it. Apparently she’d been practicing beauty charms since she was eleven.

“Oh. Well then I suppose you won’t mind if I join you then. To 'help her out'. ”

“Considering how Professor Ukai said something to me about always bringing you to the Gryffindor common rooms when you’re a Ravenclaw, I do mind.” This was partially untrue, or more accurately, misleading. Professor Ukai had said something to him, but it had simply been: “Eh, that pretty boy here again?” before he walked out of the portrait for a smoke. “Not to mention the fact you damn near set your desk on fire during our last Transfiguration class.”

“Then I obviously need the help. I’ll come along and get some tutoring too!”

“Oikawa no,” Iwaizumi said firmly, bracing himself. As far as Iwaizumi was concerned, this situation could play out in three ways: The first, and the most impossible outcome was that Oikawa would see how ridiculous he was being, and would let everything go. The second would be that he would sulk and pout, until Iwaizumi caved and bought him something like the stupidly expensive Zabini Chocolates that were only available in Switzerland. The third outcome was the most likely to occur and the most troublesome: Oikawa getting angry.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa’s voice took on a hidden edge as sharp as a hippogriff’s talon, “you seem to have forgotten what happened the last time you “helped” a girl study.”

Iwaizumi sighed again and rubbed his head in agitation.

“Oikawa that was two years ago,” Iwaizumi pointed out, trying to keep any trace of irritation out of his voice.

“Time is only a concept of the mind Iwa-chan, and things are never forgotten.” Oikawa pretended to tap his chin in thought. “If I recall correctly, when I walked into the room, she was sitting in your lap-”

“Oikawa stop.”

“-about to take off her shirt-”

“Oikawa-”

“-and kissing your neck!”

“Tooru. I’m not cancelling the study session. And you are not invited,” Iwaizumi said, with finality in his tone. He unconsciously tensed, waiting for the bomb to erupt.

It didn’t take long.

Oikawa snapped his book shut, then shoved his chair back with dramatic force.

“Oh, look at the time,” said Oikawa, suddenly switching back to his too bright, too cheery tone. “I forgot that I had a date with Mako-chan, and Saori-chan, and oh, I’m pretty sure Tina-chan will want to join in. They seem to be ready and willing to give me a _hand_ , with studying of course, but who knows with those three? They’ll probably work me so hard at the end I’ll be completely _spent-”_

“Oikawa stop being so jealous,” Iwaizumi finally snapped. Instantly he regretted it. If there was one thing that agitated Oikawa more than being jealous, it was Oikawa _being told_ that he was jealous.

“Jealous? Jealous?!” Oikawa gave a high pitched titter. “Oh, Iwa-chan you slay me. The number one all around Quidditch player being jealous of a Izumo Kamiki wannabe?” Oikawa let out a near-maniacal laugh. “Thanks for that moment of amusement.  Have fun “studying” later." Oikawa grabbed his books and his bag, sauntering off.

Iwaizumi just sighed. He let his head slump forward onto his open book. After taking a few deep breaths he straightened up and got back to work. He knew it was best to let the trash heap just be alone when he got into a trash heap type of mood.

\------

Oikawa pouted to himself as he stalked through the corridor. He wasn’t actually going to go find Mako or the other girls at the moment. He knew he’d have to eventually, to give the illusion to Hajime that he had actually followed through with his claims, though he was going to wait until the last possible moment to do so. Tina was being extra clingy lately, so he was hoping to avoid her whenever possible.

“Stupid Iwa-chan being so stupidly smart. Stupid girls wanting him to study with them to lessen their stupidity,” OIkawa muttered as he kicked the wall.

“That’s the ticket! Smash! Destroy! Take over the world!” a very hairy Viking from a portrait on the opposite wall shouted. Oikawa ignored him. He walked down the corridor kicking the wall at random.

“Oikawa-san! Hi!” A group of random girls giggled as he passed them.

He pasted his fake, friendly smile on his face, because no way was he going to let anyone know he was mad at Hajime. Mad. Not jealous. And solely because Hajime was being unfair, because Oikawa hadn’t really gone to the Gryffindor common room that often, only about once or twice a day. It wasn’t his fault, the Ravenclaw common room was beautiful but everyone was always studying or reading or if he tried to start a conversation with someone, it ultimately always turned into a debate. He couldn’t go to the Hufflepuff common room, because Hufflepuff yellow clashed horribly with his complexion. He couldn’t go to the Slytherin common room, because Tobio was there. And even if he wasn’t, he still would choose the Gryffindor common room, since Iwa-chan was there.

“Stupid Iwa-chan and his stupid muscles,” Oikawa mutter again, right before plastering on yet another smile for a pair of girls walking past. He really needed to be alone. He couldn’t go back to his dormitory because Hanamaki and Kai were studying there. He couldn’t go the library since stupid Iwa-chan was there. He wasn’t about to go outside because it was too cold and the cold was bad for his complexion.

Suddenly, he remembered how Megu-chan had tried to lure him into a first floor bathroom a week ago. Something about it never being used for some reason or other, so it was a great place to go for privacy. Oikawa had, rather smoothly, slipped out of her grasp, but couldn’t help committing the location to mind in case he could ever convince Hajime to fool around in a girls’ bathroom. Hajime was randomly stodged about things like that.

Oikawa made his way to the first floor, which was largely deserted given the late hour. He took a quick peek around before pushing the door open to the bathroom.

He his eyes scanned the inside. Empty. Oikawa slipped in and looked around. The sink area was an exact duplicate of the boy’s bathrooms. He took out his wand and conjured a bunch of pillows and blankets onto the ledge seating by the window. As he settled into his new comfy nest he Accio-ed a book, no what had the boy called it, a manga? He Accio-ed a manga one of the underclassman had given him. It was a Muggle story, so the pictures didn’t move, but it was about a bunch of boys who played this Muggle sport called volleyball, which Oikawa thought he’d probably be really good at. The most interesting thing about the manga wasn’t the sport (though it was actually very interesting to read about) it was the fact that ninety-nine percent of the characters were a bunch of seemingly straight boys pretending to be straight when it was obvious to the reader they were all in love with one another and just really, really gay. Oikawa spent a large amount of time agonizing over who was going to win a match and an equal amount of time agonizing over the obvious homoerotic not-so-subtle undertones of every single interaction the boys had.

Oikawa had just cracked the manga open to the part where the setter of the main team (who he really loathed for some reason) was doing some self-practice when a condescending female voice interrupted him. “Boys aren’t allowed in here. It’s a _girl’s_ bathroom. Can’t you read?”

Oikawa inwardly sighed, though he pasted a charming smile on his face in order to appease whoever it was that was doing the scolding. He looked up, but couldn’t see the girl from where he was seated. “Sorry. Sorry. Please forgive me this one time ok? It’ll be our little secret.” He winked and brought his finger to his lips in an over exaggerated “shh” gesture.

“Now why would _I_ want to keep a secret for _you_?” The voice asked again. Oikawa tried not to let his eye twitch.

“How about you come out from wherever you’re hiding so I can see your cute face while we talk!” Oikawa turned his smile up a notch. He waited, senses sharpening to spot the slightest bit of movement.

“Hello,” a slightly chubby, bespectacled face appeared before him. The girl’s hair was in pigtails, and her face was young, and very transparent.

“Eck!” Oikawa couldn’t help, ungracefully, yelping. The ghost girl was apparently unaware of the concept of personal space; her nose was only about five inches from Oikawa’s own.

“Oh, changed your mind have you? No longer cute because I’m a ghost?  Of course not! Who would think that poor, miserable, Myrtle was cute? Ugly, unattractive, glasses-wearing Myrtle. Obviously no one-”

Oikawa immediately kicked into female damage control mode, “No, no, no Myrtle-chan! You’re mistaken, I was just, er, surprised at how young you are.”

“Oh?” Myrtle seemed to instantaneously snap out of her rant. “How young do I look?”

 “Ah, maybe fourth year?” Oikawa guessed, with considerable confidence. He was rather fortuitous when it came to guessing the stats of females, especially things like age, height, type of guy they were attracted to (always him), favorite sweets, and bra size.

“Ohhhhh. Yes. Good guess. I am a fourth year… or at least. I was.” Myrtle’s face suddenly turned sour.

“Right. Well. Older women now-a-days are always wishing they were young again, so I’d say you’re lucky in that aspect.” Oikawa shut his book. It was obvious Myrtle wasn’t about to go away anytime soon. And an idea was beginning to form in his head.

“Lucky?” Myrtle paused, as though mulling the word over. “No one has ever called me lucky before… at least, not since I died. Ohh, and what a dreadful death it was.”

“Well, I’m honored to be the first.” Oikawa smiled his thousand watt smile and nodded his head in a regal bow. Myrtle giggled, which was a slightly nauseating sound. Oikawa felt goosebumps bloom along his arms. “So how’d you die?”

“Ohhhh, it was awful!” Myrtle gushed, her whole demeanor lighting up. “Though, sadly, I can’t tell you. I’m not allowed to tell the students anymore, not since, well, that’s another secret I can’t tell either,” Myrtle simpered.

“Ah, too bad. I was up for a good story.”

“Yes, well. Maybe… no. We’ll maybe if we get to know each other better, and I know you can keep a secret. Maybe one day I can tell you.”

“Myrtle-chan, not maybe. Definitely. We’ll definitely become friends.”

In a rather calculated move Oikawa went to put his manga away and took out his glasses. He put them on. “Sorry, wanted to be able to see you better, the light in here is so low.”

“You… wear glasses?” Myrtle looked taken aback.

“Of course I do. All the cool kids wear glasses now. Didn’t you know?”

“They do?” Myrtle finally swooped away, settling a few feet above Oikawa’s head. Oikawa’s muscles relaxed the slightest bit. “Everyone used to tease me horribly about my glasses. Ugly, disgusting Myrtle, they’d say. Four eyed-”

Oikawa cut her off, “Myrtle-chan what year did you die?”

“1943. It was such an unfortunate, dreary year-”

“Well Myrtle-chan!” Oikawa interrupted again, “It’s the new millennium. And glasses are definitely in now. Very hipster. People even wear fake glasses just so they can appear to be wearing glasses.”

 “You’re lying to me,” Myrtle’s face turned dark.

 “Cross my heart,” Oikawa took out his wand and crossed it lightly over his sweater. “Glasses are in. And Myrtle-chan, the style of glasses you’re wearing are definitely in. Cool.”

 “Cool?” Myrtle echoed, seemingly at a loss for words. Oikawa went in for the kill.

“I’ve forgotten I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Oikawa. Oikawa Tooru,”  Oikawa stretched out his hand. Myrtle gave another giggle and floated downward. Rather coyly, she placed her hand against his. Oikawa was careful to not flinch at the ice cold plummet of temperate against his skin.

 “Pleasure to meet you Myrtle-chan,” Oikawa bowed his head.

Myrtle blushed, then flew around, in a rather joyous manner. “What are you doing in the girls room anyway? Most boys who come in here are first years, and that’s only on a dare.” Her face turned sour again.

“Funny, Myrtle-chan, how you should ask about that. See the thing is…

\------

Iwaizumi explained, “First you have to translate it to French, then Gaelic, then switch to Ancient Centaur.” He sat in front of the fire with Misaki, the table in front of them covered with their Ancient Runes texts and several scrolls of reference parchments.

“How did you even figure that out?!” Misaki sighed, tugging on the ends of her hair.

“Well, see this rune here, it looks like it could be Hebrew but then it’s really Draconian, because it’s sideways,” Iwaizumi said, turning the book on its side. “See?”

“Ah. Sure,” agreed Misaki, weakly, showing Iwaizumi she really didn’t see. If it had been Oikawa, Iwaizumi would have sighed. Given that it wasn’t Oikawa, Iwaizumi had a Elder Tree’s patience.

“See the little flick at the top left corner? That gives it away,” Iwaizumi informed her. Misaki picked the text up to get a closer look.  She held it up, above her head, turning it slowly in the light. Then suddenly, the book slammed into her face.

“Are you ok?” Iwaizumi asked, bewildered, as the book fell to the floor. He bent to pick it up, staring in alarm at Misaki, who had her hand over her nose and a surprised look on her face.

“I-It just slipped through my fingers,” Misaki mumbled, her face turning red.

“Ah, uh, well. Happens to us all,” Iwaizumi said weakly, trying to sooth her embarrassment. “Is your nose bleeding? Is it broken?”

“Um. I don’t think so.” Misaki removed her hand from her nose, and tried to look down at it, resulting in a cross-eyed expression. It was so much like something Oikawa would have done, Iwaizumi chuckled.

“Here, lemme see,” Iwaizumi carefully scooted forward. For some reason Misaki squeaked, but she didn’t move away. Iwaizumi gingerly probed the area around Misaki’s nose. The skin around her nose and cheeks reddened.

“Crap, sorry, did that hurt?” Iwaizumi asked, before Misaki’s forehead came smashing against his own.

“Ow,” they both said at the same time. Iwaizumi clutched his forehead. Misaki clutched her forehead.

“I-I’m so sorry! I don’t know why I did that. It was like, something cold slithered along the back of my neck.” Misaki cried, looking horrified.

“Um, no, no it’s alright,” Iwaizumi rubbed his forehead. It barely smarted; he’d head-butted Oikawa a lot harder, numerous times.

“I-I must be tired or something. I-I’m gonna go to bed. Thanks for the help. I’m so sorry.” Misaki gathered her things haphazardly, and hurried up the stairs to the girl’s dormitory.

Iwaizumi just stared after her. It had been… weird. There was no other way to describe it. 

He shook his head, then got up to stretch. They had been studying a good amount of time.

Iwaizumi tried not to overthink what just happened. Thanks to Shittykawa and his shitty personality Iwaizumi’s mind had immediately shifted towards a reason behind the weirdness: that Misaki did, in fact, like him, and had gotten flustered for some reason. Except for the first hour, everything had been normal. More normal than normal. Why would she get flustered all of a sudden?

 “Don’t overthink it,” Iwaizumi muttered to himself. He wasn’t going to give the trashcan the satisfaction of getting into his head.

\------

For the next few days, Daichi tried not to obsess over the kiss. Suga definitely wasn’t. The next morning he greeted Daichi during Care of Magical Creatures, as ordinary as can be. Daichi took this as his cue to continue on as normal. The kiss had, after all, been a spur of the moment ploy to deflect suspicion off of their eavesdropping. So for the next week Daichi was willing and ready to act as pertinent as possible, as in, a manner that reflected the kiss was only a decoy kiss, and nothing more. Except his mind, and his entire body, had other plans.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t kissed anyone before. There had been that time with Kaori in second year on a dare. Then with Yui, in forth year, after which she had avoided him like the plague for an entire month. Then there was that hot and heavy two weeks he had, had in fifth year when his Hungarian pen pal had visited. Then there had been that time he got drunk last year with Asahi, which the both of them swore to never speak of again. Then, there was that also the time he had got drunk with Kuroo last year. Daichi had forced Kuroo to swear to never speak of it again, which the bastard, of course, didn’t follow through with.

But all of those times paled in comparison to what had happened with Suga. Even if the kiss with Suga had been a fake kiss. When Suga had kissed him… it was like Daichi’s whole body had become consumed with Suga. Suga had infiltrated his very DNA, causing Daichi to become addicted. Every molecule in his body seemed to scream when Suga came within any sort of close proximity to him, or even just when Suga was in his field of vision. Suga was like a magnet, and Daichi’s cells were constantly being pulled toward him. It was a tireless lesson in self-restraint.

On Wednesday, Professor Ukai called him to his office.

“I need you to deliver this to this address,” Ukai said, handing him a package. “It’s in a Muggle town, so dress accordingly. Just there and back, like last time, ok?” Ukai instructed.

Daichi nodded. He’d delivered another package, along with Ennoshita, a few weeks earlier. Neither of them had been told what was in it.

“I’ll find another prefect to go with you. Ennoshita’s helping out in the hospital wing at the moment. Go get changed,” Daichi nodded again and headed to his private Head Boy room in the Gryffindor tower. He changed into a red hoodie and jeans, jamming his brown dragon hide boots onto his feet.

When he went downstairs, Kuroo was standing there in a long sleeved black v-neck and black fitted jeans. Black boots graced his feet, that looked similar to Daichi’s own, except the material was about ten times more expensive. Probably some type of mythical monster’s hide that had been dipped in the tears of newborn unicorns. Daichi thought about telling him to go back and change, he was going to attract the attention of Muggle girls, but then he realized anything Kuroo wore would gain attention, since it wasn’t the clothes, it was Kuroo himself that was the attraction.

“You couldn’t even wait outside?” Daichi muttered, walking around Kuroo, not looking to see if he was following.

“And miss annoying you? What do you take me for?” Daichi could hear the smirk in Kuroo’s voice.

“How do you even know our password anyway? It was just changed two days ago.”

“Number twelve of _The Unwritten Rules of Slytherin House_ : Always know the passwords to other houses’ common rooms in case of an emergency or the need to enact justifiable revenge against another student,” quoted Kuroo.

“Right,” Daichi muttered, scrubbing a hand over his face. This was going to be a long trip. Though at least it was a distraction from his current Suga-obsession.

“Oh wait, I just thought of something I want to bring along. I need to go back to the common room and get it," Kuroo said as they rounded the corner of a stairway.

“What? Are you serious. We’re only going to be there maybe twenty minutes,” Daichi pointed out, not slowing his pace.

“Come on, stop being such an old man,” Kuroo jeered.

“Goddammit Kuroo,” Daichi grumbled, but at the end of the hallway took a left instead of a right.

“Thanks Sawamura, I knew I was your best friend for a reason.”

“I am not your best friend,” Daichi countered.

“I didn’t say you were mine, I said I was yours,” Kuroo countered back. Daichi groaned.

 “Hurry up,” Daichi instructed, as he stopped in front of the wall leading to the Slytherin common room. “If you take more than two minutes I’m leaving without you.”

Kuroo paused, then looked at him pointedly, “Can you cover your ears please? Our password isn’t for anyone but-”

“Kuroo!” Daichi barked.

“Alright damn, calm yourself down for Merlin’s sake. DaiSuga forever,” Kuroo said calmly. The wall slid back to reveal the passageway. It took Daichi a split second to realize what Kuroo had said.

“You can’t be serious,” Daichi questioned in astonished disbelief, as the wall rematerialized. It was just slow enough for Daichi to see the evil grin Kuroo threw over his shoulder. “Kuroo!” Daichi shouted after him.

Daichi tried not to have a mental breakdown as the ramifications for having such a password flew into his mind. Obviously Suga was a Slytherin, and Suga knew the password. Therefore Suga knew about Daichi’s crush and about the whole DaiSuga Coalition the underclassman had created. Now he either thought Daichi was some sort of desperate stalker, or he found all of it amusing. Since Daichi didn’t know how long the password had been in place, Daichi had no frame of reference as to how long Suga had known. He wasn’t acting any different, except for the kiss… maybe he had done that to mock Daichi?

Suga probably laughed with his friends about Daichi. Maybe even with the underclassmen. Maybe he even wrote his parents, telling them about the amusing Head Boy who was crushing on him. A million scenarios played out in Daichi’s head. Fuck is this what it felt like to be Asahi?

“Yo Sawamura what’s up?” Matsukawa said, startling Daichi. Daichi whipped around to see his fellow seventh year standing there. “You need me to get someone for you?”

“No, no I’m just waiting for Kuroo,” Daichi muttered, only partially paying attention. His mind was still reeling from the horrifying password revelation.

“Ah ok. For Merlin’s sake,” Matsukawa replied. Daichi watched, uncomprehendingly, as the passageway was again revealed before him and Matsukawa walked in.

“For Merlin’s sake?” Daichi echoed, aloud, seemingly lost. Then the reality of the situation sunk in.

Kuroo, that Grade-A jackass. Daichi was going to Hex him as soon as he came back. He was also going to yell at him. Lots of yelling.

The portrait opened to reveal Kuroo.

“Kuroo, you egotistical psycho. I can’t believe you made me think the password was Dai- ah!” Daichi swallowed his rant as Kuroo stepped aside, revealing a silver haired angel walking behind him. Suga was wearing an oversized light blue sweater that made him look so smol Daichi felt he was going to have a fit.

“What was that Sawamura? What did I make you think the password was?” Daichi glared furiously at a smirking Kuroo.

“So where is it that you’re going?” Suga asked.

“You told him?” Daichi asked.

“Kuroo said you going to go to some Muggle town by Port Key? I’ve never seen anyone travel by Port Key before, I wanted to watch. Especially since Kuroo offered,” Suga said cheerfully.

Daichi mentally cursed Kuroo.

“Oh, sorry. I should have made sure with you first. No worries,” Suga said, as Daichi hesitated. He turned back to the stonewall. “For-”

“Wait,” Daichi said, as a different smirk slid across Kuroo’s face. Daichi made a note to really, physically curse Kuroo as soon as the two of them were alone. “You can watch. It’s not a big deal. Sorry I was being stupidly cautious.”

“Yay!” Suga cheered, adorably. Daichi couldn’t help but grin.

They headed to the front of the castle, and walked to the front gate. It was about a five minute walk into the designated area Daichi had used last time.

“Ok, Kuroo grab on,” Daichi indicated a couple of what looked like rusted trowels on the ground. He pointed to the one with the green handle. Kuroo and Daichi bent down and each put a few fingers on the tool. Suga bent down as well to inspect it.

“See, when it’s about to work it glows a light blue color, and then, at least to your eyes, it’ll look like we’ve just apparated. But to the users, that’s us, it feels like a gigantic hook pulls you from behind your navel.”

“Ahh,” Suga dutifully commented. Daichi looked at his watch.

“It should happen any second now,” he looked up at Kuroo, who for some reason was smirking in a way that immediately put Daichi, who was well versed in the subtle nuances of Kuroo smirks, on alert.

A soft blue light surrounded the trowel. “Oh, see here’s the glow,” Daichi informed Suga, distracted, “So we'll disappear any sec-”

“Suga come with us! Grab on!” Kuroo interrupted. Daichi’s eyes widened in shock.

“Oh! Ok!” Suga agreed amicably, then Daichi watched in horror, as he rather calmly placed his forefinger against the handle.

“Wai-” was all Daichi was able to get out, before he felt the familiar pull jerk him forward.

The journey was a panicked whirlwind for Daichi, in which he caught glimpses of both Kuroo and Suga laughing like the carefree idiots that they were.

They landed rather peacefully in a copse of trees.

Daichi immediately whirled on them.

“Both of you are so dead. SO DEAD when we get back,” Daichi berated, sternly, going into full on agitated dad mode.

“I’m sorry,” said Suga making placating gestures with his hands. For once, Daichi felt immune to the darling way Suga’s eyes crinkled in contrition.

“I’m not falling for it this time!” Daichi shook his head. He rounded on Kuroo.

Kuroo held up his hands innocently, but couldn’t stop smirking. “Chill Daichi, what’s done is done. We’ll be back in ten minutes anyway. What’s the harm.”

“What’s the harm? We could get EXPELLED!”

“Please don’t go all Hermione on us. Like I said, ten minutes, the Port Key is timing us.  Since it takes a few to walk to the place and back here, that literally gives us no time to get into any trouble. All we’re gonna do is walk there, drop off whatever it is, and walk back. Nothing’s gonna happen. Live a little,” without waiting for a reply, he walked past Daichi, patting him on the back.

“Yeah Daichi, nothing bad is going to happen,” Suga agreed, then reached up, and patted Daichi on the head as though he were a very small child. He paused, as though inspecting Daichi. “You look cute, with your hair all disheveled like that,” Suga commented casually.

Despite his anger, Daichi couldn’t keep his cheeks from heating up or his stomach from squeezing momentarily

 _Treacherous body!_ He berated himself.

"But we’re just going to drop this package off, and head right back. No detours,” Daichi announced, already feeling the back of his neck start to itch, as it always did whenever he knowingly broke a school rule.

“And you’re each still getting a month’s detention when we get back to school!”

“Of course, of course,” Suga agreed, turning to Daichi to grace him with a beautiful smile. A retreating Kuroo waved a hand carelessly in the air in agreement.

Daichi sighed and followed.

\------

“Hermes! Let Athena have some,” Bokuto scolded as the brown owl seemed to hip check the black spotted one.

Hermes hooted in dismay.

“Shouldn’t even eat that much man! Puttin' on the pounds won’t impress the ladies!” Bokuto scolded. His words lacked meaning as he took out a few more Owl Treats from the bag and held them out to Hermes.

“Want some too Artemis?” Bokuto held out a treat to the snowy owl, who took the piece daintily with her beak and flew off to enjoy it.

“Hello Bokuto-san,” a voice behind Bokuto said, causing a thrill to run through Bokuto’s body. Bokuto turned and saw Akaashi standing there, a white envelope in hand.

“Akaashi! Hey hey hey! Here to send a letter?”

“Yes I am.”

Akaashi went to the designated area for the school owls and politely held out the envelope to a large grey one. It just as politely took the piece of mail and set off. Bokuto and Akaashi watched it soar out the window.

“What are you doing here, Bokuto-san?” Akaashi asked, approaching Bokuto instead of leaving. Bokuto, who had been trying to figure out a way to get Akaashi to stay longer, mentally fist pumped in victory.

“Just visiting with my owls,” Bokuto bragged, accidentally shoving a treat too hard into Apollo’s beak. The owl gave him the stink eye. Bokuto didn’t notice.

“Owls? How many do you have?” Akaashi walked even closer, close enough for Bokuto to touch. He was wearing dark grey sweats and a deep blue sweater, which set off his midnight hair wonderfully. He also smelled like… apples—green apples, and grass, and something gloriously clean, like soap or fresh laundry. Bokuto tried not to spasm as his olfactory sensors exploded in bliss.

“A lot! Here wanna feed ’em?” He shoved the bag of Owl Treats into Akaashi’s hand, giving him no choice but to comply.

“Alright,” Akaashi agreed quietly, taking Bokuto’s rambunctiousness in stride.

Akaashi neatly removed a treat from the bag and held one out to the midnight owl in front of him.

“Wait, maybe not him-” Bokuto said, before the owl’s beak swiftly darted forward and grabbed the treat.

“What was that Bokuto-san?” Akaashi asked, turning to look questioningly at Bokuto.

“Ah, er, nothing. It’s just… that’s Hades. And he’s sort of an ass and likes biting people. But wow, look at that Akaashi! He likes you!” Bokuto beamed as the midnight owl hooted softly at Akaashi, obviously imploring him for another treat.

Akaashi obligued.

“Well, he is a rather beautiful bird. He is a bit lethal looking, but very beautiful,” Akaashi commented softly.

“Oh, yeah, good point. Exactly like you!” Bokuto blurted out, before his brain caught up with his mouth.

Akaashi paused, the treat he was about to give Hades frozen in midair. Hades impatiently bobbed his head forward and grabbed it.

“I- uh, I mean, not that I think you’re lethal. You’re a super cool guy Akaashi. And not that I think you’re beautiful!” Bokuto babbled.  Akaashi slowly tilted his head to the right, rather inquisitively. Hades mirrored the action. Bokuto suddenly felt like he was being given the third degree in front of a bunch of silent judges. “Wait, no, I mean you are, but not that I think you are… I mean, not that I don’t think you aren’t because you obviously are.”

Akaashi stayed silent. “What I mean,” Bokuto blurted out, desparately, “is that you two both have a very similar shade of black hair, or er, feathers, in Hades’ case. And black is a pretty deadly color, ya know?”

Akaashi simply stared at him a second more. Bokuto felt sweat begin to bead on his temple.

“Alright Bokuto-san, I understand,” Akaashi went back to feeding the owls treats. Akaashi was very fair in his distribution of the snacks, going down the line and patiently holding the snack out to each owl as they gobbled them down greedily. A handful of the school owls even fluttered down to inspect what was going on. Akaashi incorporated them seamlessly into the feeding parliament. 

Bokuto swooned and wished he had his camera, his earlier verbal blunder entirely forgotten.

 “You’re really good with them!” Bokuto praised in excitement as a large tan owl landed abruptly on his own head.  Akaashi glanced over, the corner of his mouth lifting in gentle amusement.

“They seem to like you too Bokuto-san,” Akaashi’s hand disappeared into the bag. Bokuto’s heart rocketed into his throat as Akaashi reached up and offered the owl standing on Bokuto’s head the treat. If Bokuto had been any kind of smooth, he would have taken the opportunity to lean down and capture Akaashi’s soft looking lips with his own. It was the perfect moment: Surrounded by the peaceful atmosphere of the Owlery. The soft, afternoon light filtering through the window. Instead Bokuto froze in place and the moment passed. Akaashi handed him the bag back. Bokuto robotically took it.

“That was fun,” Akaashi commented, and Bokuto nodded, jerkily, as his hopes and dreams shriveled up like Snargaluff pods under the scorching sun.

Akaashi walked toward the doorway. Bokuto watched him go, every fiber of his being, from his toes to the very tips of his hair, wilting in dejection.

 _Moron!_ his inner voice screamed. _Idiot! Useless!_

Akaashi stopped at the door. “Bokuto-san are you coming?”

“Huh?” Bokuto looked at Akaashi out of a haze of cloudy sadness.

“Are you coming to dinner? It’s dinnertime. We could perhaps, discuss that Quidditch move you were telling me about yesterday?” Akaashi suggested, face calm.

Bokuto’s dejected brain took a few seconds to process. Then a smile flashed brightly across his face. “Ohohoho, want to know more about the Lovegood Liftoff do you? I dunno Akaashi, you’re good and all, but even I have trouble pulling it off.”

A slight smirk lit Akaashi’s face, “Bokuto-san, is that a challenge?”

Bokuto’s heart felt sucker punched at the look on Akaashi’s face. Pretty boys with slightly cocky expressions were beautiful enough to be illegal.

“Yes. Yes it is,” Bokuto managed to choke out. Akaashi’s smirk widened, then he turned and exited the Owlery. In a fit of glee Bokuto grabbed the bag of Owl Treats and tore it open, letting the contents fly into the air.

He giggled to himself as the owls descended. Satisfied with the sight, he followed after Akaashi.

\-------

Asahi fretted as he waited for the cake to bake. Even though he had gotten help from Blinky, Slimf, and Crono, three of his favorite house-elves, he was still worried the cake wouldn’t turn out perfectly.

The cake in question was an elaborate, seven tiered cake (each layer being a different flavor) that was going to be covered in red fondant and marzipan Quidditch shapes. It was important that it was baked to perfection since it was for Yuu’s birthday.

“Asa-chan, where are you?!” Yuu’s voice said, causing Asahi to jump. He looked down at his wrist. It had been Nishinoya’s idea to enchant their watches so that they had “secret communicator cuffs”, apparently from some Muggle show that Nishinoya had loved as a child, one that Asahi had been too scared to watch when he was younger. Tanaka was in on the coms too. Asahi had been the one to enchant them, since neither of the other two could figure out the elaborate charm work, but he was the one that used it least. Mostly he just listened to Noya and Tanaka chatter to each other in partially nonsensical code talk.

Asashi lied, “Uh, I’m studying.”

“Come back to the common room ASAP. Delinquent Dragon needs our help.”

“Right. Ok,” Asahi mumbled, beginning to fret more. He couldn’t leave the cake, since it wasn’t done baking. And he still had to decorate it. But he couldn’t think of a good excuse on the spot to tell Noya why he was unable to go back to the common room to help Tanaka, since Noya knew his schedule.

“Sirs. Excusing me sirs with the long hair, we can be finishing the cake as you’re pleasing to leave," Blinky chirped. She was Asahi’s favorite house-elf. He’d often gotten lost in the castle during his first year. Most of the other students had thought it was cool enormous suits of armor, life sized paintings of people, and statues of ogres were alive but for Asahi it had been utterly terrifying. The ghosts had tried to help, but back then, whenever they had approached him, he’d run away before they could say anything.

“Um. So it just needs…”

“Sirs, we is knowing what needs to be done. Please no more of your worryings,” said Blinky, patting Asahi on the hand.

“We’s going to be helping Blinky too sirs!” Crono put in, enthusiastically. Slimf nodded vigorously, “We’s remembering everything you said!”

“Alright. Thank you all so much,” Asahi said gently, pulling off his apron. He started to take it to the laundry hamper buy Slimf snatched it from him.

“Please be letting me do this! Please be going now!” After thanking them numerous times, Asahi exited the kitchen with miniature apples they had stuffed into his pockets, and headed back to the Gryffindor common room. When he walked into the room he saw Tanaka standing on the side by the chess table with Nishinoya. Hinata, Izumi, and Kouji were sitting cross-legged on the floor like school children in front of their teachers.

“Um, what’s going on?” Asahi asked in lieu of greeting.

“We’re helping Tanaka-senpai out for his date!” Hinata answered happily.

“Tanaka you have a date?” Asahi questioned, too surprised to hide his surprise. Fortunately Tanaka was so absorbed with what he was doing he didn’t take offense, or even notice it.

“Yup!” Tanaka answered, preening in front of the floating mirror in front of him. “What do you think of my outfit?”

He was in a slouchy navy jeans with a loose fitting, forest green v-neck sweater, layered over a tighter fitting black tank. Asahi honestly thought he looked pretty cool. “Really nice,” Asahi paused, “but uh, is that my sweater?”

“Asa-chan! Think of it as a contribution to the fulfillment of Tanaka’s empty love life,” Yuu instructed him, letting Asahi know that he had definitely been the one to give Tanaka the sweater. Tanaka nodded sagely in agreement, as did the three boys sitting on the floor.

“Ok,” Asahi simply agreed. “So who’re you going out with?” he asked, settling into the empty chair in front of the chessboard.

“Kiyoko-chan!” Tanaka replied, eyes sparkling with love.

This time Asahi was ready and was able to hide his surprise. “Wow. Congratulations.”

“Where are you two going?” Kouji asked.

“Library,” Tanaka answered. “It’s a study date!”

“Study date?” Hinata echoed, confused. “What’s that?”

“When you study with the person you’re on a date with,” Tanaka informed him.

“But how’s that different than normal studying?”

“Because,” Tanaka said wisely, “you do it with the person you like.”

“Oh,” said Hinata, suddenly going quiet.

“So who asked who out?” Izumi asked.

“I asked her, of course. It’s the man’s job to ask.” Tanaka puffed out his chest. “As you all know, I’ve been helping her sort files for the last month, but I was getting pretty tired of just doing that. I mentioned last time how I wasn’t doing so hot in Potions, and then she mentioned she was great in Potions, so then I said, ‘Will you help me out?’. And then she said, ‘Ok sure.’” Tanaka sighed dreamily.

“Wow,” Hinata commented. Asahi saw Izumi and Kouji exchange skeptical looks.

“Er, Tanaka-senpai-” Izumi began, as Tanaka’s watch started chirping like a canary.

“Oh! Look at that! Time to go,” Tanaka announced. With a last adjustment to his shirt he dashed to the portrait.

“Er,” Izumi said into the aftermath of Tanaka’s departure, “is it really a date?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Nishinoya answered confidently. He turned to Asahi. “Asahi, can you come help me with that one Astronomy question I was telling you about earlier.”

“Ok,” Asahi agreed. They left the common room as the three fifth years began discussing the particulars of what exactly constituted a study date.

“I was thinking about the calculations earlier,” Asahi informed Yuu as they entered the dormitory. “I think the problem was the third moon of Jupiter-”

Nishinoya pounced.

“Wha-!” Asahi gasped, startled, as he fell onto the floor.

“Asa-chan,” Nishinoya chanted in a sing-song voice that made the hairs on the back of Asahi’s neck stand up in a mixture of terror and anticipation, “you think you’re so clever don’t you.”

“Uhhhh, Yuu anyone could walk in right now,” Asahi worried at the same time he started to frantically wrack his brain in search of what Nishinoya was referring to. Nishinoya sat firmly atop Asahi’s chest. Asahi watched, mesmerized, as Noya withdrew his wand from his pocket.

“Icarcerus,” Yuu recited, with an evil glint in his eye. Ropes sprang out of the air and wrapped around Asahi’s hands and feet. Asahi whimpered.

“I know you’re lying, Asa-chan,” Noya continued in the same sing-song voice. Asahi started to sweat. It wasn’t from arousal. He was honestly panicking now. He had no idea what Yuu was talking about, and he could tell from the look in his eye’s he wasn’t going to let up until he got what he wanted. And while some people got off on being walked in on, Asahi was not one of those people.

“Yuu, I don’t know-”

“Where exactly were you, fifteen minutes ago?”

Asahi froze.

“I- uh- I was at the library remember.”

“Eh! Bubu! Wrong answer,” Nishinoya carefully took his wand, then brought it down, trailing it along Asahi’s side. Asahi realized what was about to happen a split second too late. “Yuu, please don-”

Nishinoya lightly dug his wand into Asahi’s side, right into his tickle spot. Asahi instantly laughed, “Yuu, please-” Nishinoya moved his wand, poking the tip along Asahi’s waist. Asahi began laughing uncontrollably. “Yuu pleaseee, ahahaha!” Asahi gasped.

Nishinoya removed his wand.

“Now, let me ask again. Where were you fifteen minutes  ago?”

The wand waited, poised in the air, as Asahi caught his breath.

“Yuu, really, I was in the li-”

“No mercy for liars!” Nishinoya shouted, suddenly flinging his wand away. He swooped down, digging his fingers all along Asahi’s side, racing them up his chest and into his neck. Asahi squirmed and bucked and heaved as the air left his lungs too fast to be replaced. He couldn’t even beg for leniency. Nishinoya’s small fingers ran nimbly along Asahi’s body, finding every available tickle spot (of which there were many, Asahi had never grown out of being ticklish). At some point, Noya had started laughing almost as hard as Asahi. If anyone walking by had thought the room was empty they definitely knew it wasn’t now.

Nishinoya pulled back. Asahi lay on the ground, panting and red and sweaty, and he knew he probably looked worse than an over boiled leek, but he couldn’t breathe enough to care at the moment.

“No mercy,” Nishinoya grinned widely, then suddenly rolled off of Asahi.

“Relashio.” The ropes fell apart. Asahi just lay on the floor, catching his breath.

“Don’t think this means you’ve fooled me Asa-chan!” Nishinoya informed Asahi as he jumped onto his bed. “But since you’re lying for the benefit of my birthday I have decided to grant you mercy. This is only a one time thing. Understand?!”

Nishinoya pointed at Asahi to emphasize his point.

“How did you know?” Asahi questioned in-between breaths.

“When you answered it was way too noisy to be the library. Plus you smell like cake,” Nishinoya flopped back onto his bad. His small legs, not quite long enough to reach the floor, swung back and forth like a tiny child’s. “Come cuddle now!” Nishinoya demanded, patting the space next to him firmly.

Slowly, Asahi clambered to his feet and walked over to Nishinoya’s bed. Prudently he lowered himself next to the small Keeper, so as not to disturb him with the movement. Nishinoya turned on his side to face Asahi. Asahi stared back.

“I love you,” said Nishinoya, suddenly, in such an earnest voice that Asahi’s chest squeezed. Nishinoya wiggled his way upward until he was eye level with Asahi, then leaned forward and kissed him sweetly on the nose.

Asahi leaned forward and kissed Nishinoya on the lips—one, two, three—times, until he was sure he felt his very heart sigh.

The windows around them exploded.

“Yuu!” Asahi cried, before his vision went black.

 


	9. Only The Weak Do Not Fear Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the 7th month break while I recovered from my injury. Thank you for still reading!
> 
> Anyway, I've combined this chapter with what I had posted afterwards as Chapter 10 because it was bugging me that I had one lone chapter that was only 1,000 words. I have all your guesses saved, so don't worry!

“First there was a huge flash of light! Then, all the windows shattered, and then, nothing!”  Nishinoya explained excitedly, arms waving in the air for emphasis. He was sitting upright in his hospital bed, coverlet drawn over his lap in a messy bunch.

“Wow!” Hinata’s mouth was open in amazement, eyes glassy and unfocused as though trying to imagine the scenario Nishinoya was describing. He sat in the wooden chair he’d drawn up to the side of Nishinoya’s bed, body leaning forward in eagerness. Asahi sighed at the sight from his own hospital bed a few feet away.

“It was just a bunch of fireworks going off too close to the castle,” Asahi clarified kindly, before Nishinoya had the chance to tell Hinata it was something fantastically and obviously fake, like a pack of Chinese Fireball Dragons fighting off a throng of Hippogriffs.  Asahi knew Hinata would actually believe Nishinoya. 

“But a ton of fireworks!”  Nishinoya corrected. “So many they were able to break all the anti-breakage charms on the windows! So many Ukai doesn’t even know the number!” 

“Wow,” Hinata repeated, mouth still hanging open. His eyes were glossy now. “That is so cool!”

“Yes it is Shoyou!” Nishinoya puffed out his chest proudly. “And we survived it!”

Nurse Longbottom had cleared them for release an hour ago, but Nishinoya had insisted he still needed another hour or two of rest. Asahi knew it was secretly because he liked the steady stream of visitors being in the Hospital Wing brought, coupled with the attention those steady stream of visitors gave. Asahi had wanted to leave, but Nishinoya had insisted on him staying as well.

“Noya-san, you’re so cool!”  Hinata raved again, and Asahi sighed.

 

——————

 

After that, the rest of the week went smoothly. The weekend went smoothly. On Monday, Asahi woke up, looking forward to another smooth, normal week. He especially liked Mondays; he had his two favorite classes to look forward to—Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology.

Both classes went perfectly, apart from working with Bokuto in Care of Magical Creatures, who somehow seemed to be miraculously immune to the Fwooper’s song. He had spent the entire lesson trying to sing along, horribly off-key, only to drop into a dead faint at the end of class. Asahi had then had to cart him off to the Hospital Wing.

When the day was winding to an end and Asahi sat down at dinner to one of his favorites—pork chops—he was feeling quite happy.

Until Headmaster Ukai stood up.

“I have an announcement,” he stated, without preamble. “Shut up or I’ll have you all scrubbing the castle floors during the weekend.” 

Everyone shut up.

Asahi glanced at Daichi out of the corner of his eye. His friend was sitting across the table, diagonally from him. His mouth was shifted downward in a slight frown and his scrunched brow indicated he had no idea what the headmaster was about to say.

“Actually, it’s more of a surprise. Good surprise.” Ukai informed them, rather succinctly. “Pay attention.” 

Everyone stilled, waiting to hear what the headmaster would say next, but instead of Ukai Sr.’s gruff voice the sound that filled the Great Hall was startlingly beautiful: melodious, golden birdsong. 

Bells started ringing, building, until a crescendo of sparkling sweet chimes filled the room, resonating off the walls, and from the entrance to the Great Hall a rhythmic stomping of feet began, drawing the student’s attention.

Asahi turned to see rows of strange boys and girls standing by the door, in striking uniforms of cornflower blue. Asahi watched as they stomped, no, marched in place, syncing to a mesmerizing beat that was beautifully accented by the bells. One by one, as though triggered by the steps, the flames lighting the Great Hall changed from glowing orange to a cold crystalline sapphire. The clouds above them roiled as though pushed by a storm, then then entire ceiling faded into an expanse of deep black. The Great Hall shifted into a cavern of darkness, illuminated by the flickering blue candles above them. Faster and faster the rhythm went, growing as loud as crashing waves, making Asahi feel like he was in the midst of a dark, raging ocean, about to be engulfed by the vast, endless surroundings around him…

He felt a hand placed over his own, drawing him out of his mental spiral. He glanced to his side to see Nishinoya’s eyes glued to the new arrivals, an expression of pure delight visible on his face even in the darkness, but his hand was resting reassuringly on Asahi’s. It gave the slightest squeeze.

Asahi relaxed. 

Suddenly the stomping stopped. Everyone in the Great Hall was motionless, waiting. The strangers stood frozen, eyes in front of them, and in the split seconds of silence Asahi realized that a few of them weren’t strangers at all: Suga, Iwaizumi, Mad Dog—all the transfer students stood among them. Asahi was barely able to let the information sink in before the young men and women raised their wands in silent unison. There was a moment of absolute quiet before brilliant silvery blooms of light burst forth from the dozens of wands raised in the air: Patronuses, leaping forth to bound and fly and glide around the seated students. The animals left brilliant, fixed trails of stars in their wake, transforming the room into a living galaxy. 

Asahi watched as the Patronuses leapt higher and higher, all of them drawing toward the center of the ceiling. They danced and frolicked among themselves—touching, merging—until the massive form of a wingless river dragon appeared, long and lean and sleek. It twisted and sliced through the air, mesmerizing, body coiling around itself like a python, before turning its attention to the students below. 

Asahi caught the terrifying expression in its eyes before its head reared back and a twisting tornado of colorful flames shot from its mouth to spread across the ceiling. The flames whirled, flowing outward—azure, and snow white, red and royal purple— licking and jumping across the high expanse above them. The fire crackled and burned and began to spread downward. Asahi felt the hot, thick pressure push the air against him, watched as the flames shot downward, threatening to consume the sitting students. The entire sky above them was a raging wall of colorful fire. Asahi held his breath as the heat intensified, blistering, the solid wall of burning flame closing in on them. 

It struck.

Asahi didn’t have time to scream as his body was engulfed by scorching fire. Colors filled his vision, emeralds and aubergines and steaks of pale pinks and blues as dark as the edge of night against the horizon.

It was terrifying. 

It was beautiful.

It was over in seconds. Asahi sat, dazed, the echo of colors dancing across his vision as the Great Hall returned to normal. The other students were silent, also waking from the stupor that had consumed their minds.

Then someone—Bokuto, Asahi recognized—let out a whoop of pure delight. Then Noya and Tanaka were rising to their feet onto one of the benches, letting out twin roars like victorious dragons, and around the room students broke into shouts and cheers and applause, filling the empty spaces where the flames had been burning moments before.

“Boys and girls,” Ukai Sr. shouted, one of his rare smiles on his face, “the Triwizard Tournament has begun!”

 

 

\-------

 

 

“Man, I can’t believe you’ve been keeping this from us!” Nishinoya moaned, for what had to be the fifth time.

Iwaizumi smirked, also for what had to be the fifth time. They sat at the Gryffindor table, dishes of delicious foods around them.

“Aren’t we friends?” Tanaka asked, then he and Nishinoya turned to Iwaizumi, giving him their best attempts at puppy dog eyes.

"Now, now I’m sure he has his reasons,” Asahi said placatingly, trying to pull Nishinoya away.

Daichi hauled Tanaka back by th fabric of his robes to restore Iwaizumi his personal space.

“Hrpmh, some friend! If I was keeping a secret from you Iwaizumi, I would have told! Even if it was something super top secret and cool…”

Daichi tuned out Nishinoya’s whining to look across the room at a certain ash-blonde individual sitting at the Slytherin table. He was surrounding by other Beauxbaton students (something Daichi didn’t fail to notice; even at his own school Suga must’ve been insanely popular). He looked positively radiant in Beauxbaton blue, the vibrant shade of cornflower made his pale skin and silver locks really… glow. At least in Daichi’s eyes.

Then Daichi realized he was obsessively staring.

It still took him another ten seconds to tear his eyes away.

“Headmaster Ukai is pretty funny though,” Daichi tuned back into the conversation to hear Iwaizumi saying, “I can’t believe he said he didn’t tell you guys about the tournament because it would make you tougher.”

Daichi laughed. “Yeah, that’s our headmaster.”

“So, Iwaizumi,” Terushima suddenly interjected into the conversation,“how about you introduce a guy to your fellow Beauxbuton students.” Terushima jerked his head to indicate the tall, pale-haired female sitting at the Hufflepuff table next to Lev.

Iwaizumi politely finished chewing his chicken before answering. “That’s Lev’s sister, Alisa.”

“Alisa huh?” They all watched as Terushima got up from his seat confidently and headed toward the Hufflepuff table.

Tanaka sighed wistfully. “What’s in the water at Beauxbatons to make you all such babes.”

Iwaizumi choked on his own water. “You all?”

“Well, yeah, you own a mirror. You must know you’re smokin’” He shot two finger guns at Iwaizumi with a wink.

For the first time since Daichi had met Iwaizumi, he saw the taller boy blush without it being a direct result of something Oikawa had said.

“Aw, he’s so cute when he’s shy,” Nishinoya cooed to Asahi.

“Goddamn it you guys,” Iwaizumi huffed and scrubbed a hand bashfully over his nose, a hint of an embarrassed smile on his face.

Daichi and Asahi both chuckled.

“So where exactly are all the Beauxbaton students staying?” Daichi, ever the responsible one, inquired.

“There’s a vanishing cabinet set up in the Entrance Hall.” Iwaizumi explained. “It’s twin is at Beauxbatons.”

“It only opens for Beauxbaton’s students,” he added, noticing Tanaka and Nishinoya’s eager looks. Their faces fell.

“Does that mean you aren’t staying in our dormitories anymore?” Asahi questioned.

“No I still am.”

“Wait a second,” Nishinoya tilted his head to first one side, then the other, as though weighing the thoughts in his head, “how come you and Oikawa and the rest came over here first? Why didn’t you just come with everyone else, that’s sort of weird, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah, heh.” Was is Daichi’s imagination, or did Iwaizumi’s smile look a little strained. “You see—”

“All right brats and guest brats!” Ukai announced suddenly, cutting Iwaizumi off. “You lot, get off to bed. There will be some more arrivals in the morning, so first class is canceled, but it’s still your responsibility to wake up on time if you want to see them.”

Daichi looked around at the new arrivals (or more accurately the new arrivals around Suga) and saw some of them blinking in surprise at Headmaster Ukai’s brusque attitude. Then the students started rising from their seats and Suga was blocked from Daichi’s view.

In the Entrance Hall stood an elaborate golden cabinet as tall as a small Hawthorn tree. Intricate designs of beasts and landscapes were carved along its metallic surface. A variety of precious stones of various shapes and sizes and rarities were inlaid throughout the scenes. Daichi saw Inuoka try to pry a large ruby off of a corner as Lev laughed at him. Out of the corner of his eye Daichi saw a last fleeting glimpse of Suga headed towards the dungeons before he was swallowed up by the crowd.

“Ahhh, so close and yet so far,” Nishinoya said with longing, as they watched a pair of pretty Beauxbaton’s students open the large cabinet door and walk inside. “Asa-chan, Ryuu, we have to figure out a way to get in there!”

“Hell yeah!” Tanaka agreed, fist pumping the air as Asahi rolled his eyes. They started up the stairs.

Asahi peered out of a passing window at the grounds below. “I’m looking forward to seeing Durmstrang tomorrow.”

“Durmstrang? What’s that, some kind of magical antidote?” Nishinoya asked.

“No, it’s the other school that participates in the Triwizard Tournament,” Asahi explained, as Nishinoya grabbed onto his hand, swinging their interlocked palms between them. He narrowly missed clubbing Iwaizumi in the eye as he walked up the stairs behind them.

“Ohhh! I read in The Quidditch Times Ushijima Wakatoshi goes there,” Tanaka contributed.

“Actually, a bunch of their current students have already been scouted for the Bulgarian team as well,” Iwaizumi informed them.

“What?!” Tanaka and Nishinoya stopped, causing them to bottle neck on the stairway. Asahi gently pushed them forward.

“Man, we’re so behind!” Nishinoya moaned.

“Too behind!” Tanaka agreed.

“Let’s go train Ryuu!” Nishinoya shouted, turning and sprinting down the stairs. Tanaka turned and followed.

“You guys better be in bed before curfew!” Daichi shouted.

“Don’t stay out too late, otherwise you won’t be able to wake up to see them arrive!” Asahi added. Nishinoya waved a hand behind him in acknowledgement.

“Those two idiots,” Daichi muttered.

Iwaizumi laughed, “A galleon says they sleep right through the arrival.”

“A Galleon says they don’t but only because Asahi is too soft-hearted and wakes them up,” Daichi countered.

“Hey!” Asahi protested. “Well… a Galleon says you’re the one who wakes them up, since you don’t want Suga to think you’re a bad upperclassman.”

“Why you!” Daichi pulled out his wand, causing Asahi to “eep” and start running up the stairs.

Iwaizumi’s laughter followed after them.

 

——————

 

 

“Why exactly do we have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn?” Bokuto moaned to Kuroo. Ennoshita noticed Bokuto was practically wilting, and he didn’t think it was because of the early hour. Last night he’d caught Bokuto fluttering around their House table several times, obviously wanting to talk to Akaashi, but unsure of how to get his attention around the new Beauxbaton students.

“It’s because we’re so lucky to be prefects,” Kuroo’s voice was dripping with sarcasm as he conjured another chair onto the grass.

They’d all been woken up via ghost, sent by Daichi. Apparently he’d had the brilliant decision that they should have a nice, welcoming platform for the new arrivals. So now the prefects were moving about, setting up seating areas (since they weren’t sure of the exact hour they were arriving) and large welcome banners and signs and decorations.

“Why don’t you try and decorate the Whomping Willow?” Ennoshita casually suggested. “Some people might find it impressive if you succeed.”

“Eh? You think so?” Bokuto eyed the large tree in the distance. He turned back to Ennoshita, a confused expression on his face. “But what people?”

“I guess I should say person, or a certain Ravenclaw to be precise, who excels at Herbology.” Ennoshita paused, then at Bokuto’s silence, continued. “This certain person might find it fascinating to hear how you tamed a Whomping Willow.”

Bokuto tilted his head owlishly to the side. “Huh?”

“You dumbass, he’s saying Akashi might find it interesting to know how you handled the Whomping Willow.”

“OHHH.” Bokuto’s eyes widened in understanding, then narrowed in delight like an owl getting its head scratched. “Wow, thanks Ennoshita, my man. You’re gonna make a great Head Boy next year.”

Which turned Ennoshita into the one saying, “Huh?”

“Oh, come on, like it’s gonna be anyone else,” Kuroo said over his shoulder as he followed after a bounding Bokuto.

Ennoshita watched, dumbstruck, as Bokuto started brandishing his wand like a sword and shouting something unintelligible at the mobile tree. Ennoshita turned away to continue arranging the seating area, his cheeks feeling a little warm.

He happened to glance up to see Michimiya, standing across the expanse of grass, using her wand to enchant a welcoming banner to flash different colors. Ennoshita sighed. Here he was spurning other people into action for the sake of their love lives while he couldn’t even muster up the courage to sort out his own. Though to be fair, what conspired between him and Michimiya wasn’t exactly love… or even like.

Or at least, it hadn’t been, at the time. Yet ever since returning from the Hogsmeade trip Ennoshita had found himself watching Michimiya. At first it’d been out of guilt: he’d just been looking and waiting for the right time to approach her and tell her how sorry he was for taking advantage of her fragile state. Then a few days had come and gone, and the opportunity to apologize had started to pass. During those days he’d found his gaze being drawn to her whenever she was in the vicinity, desperate to find an opening to approach, yet somehow never finding one he deemed good enough.

Then, when more days had gone and it had reached the point where apologizing would have been insanely awkward, he’d still continued watching her. All that watching had made him notice a few things: That Michimiya was putting on a brave front despite her heartbreak. That her friends either didn’t notice or definitely noticed and they were feigning ignorance out of consideration for her. That sometimes Michimiya forgot to put on her fake front of happiness when she thought no one was looking—the look on her face during those moments made Ennoshita’s own heart feel like it was aching.

Naturally, observing someone over a long period of time made a person notice some things about the person of observation. It was only a logical conclusion. A lot of times it didn’t mean anything. Though Ennoshita was also logical and realistic himself, so he definitely wasn’t being fooled by his own logic. So he knew, perhaps, that he was inadvertently developing some feelings for Michimiya.

At this point in time he felt his most rational course of action was to wait for these feelings to fade, before they became entangled with the problem and made a further mess of things. So he would wait, and hopefully it wouldn’t take too long; it would be sad if she graduated and they were still on awkward terms.

He watched as Daichi approached Michimiya to say something.

He watched and he saw how Michimiya’s hand tightened around her wand, her posture suddenly stiffening. He noticed the slightest, imperceptible quiver of her lip before she forced a smile onto her face. He saw how, when Daichi directed his attention to the clipboard in his hand, her eyes softened, losing a bit of focus as they looked at him, uninhibited. Ennoshita didn’t miss the longing they held.

He felt his chest tighten

He would wait.

Wait and watch and hopefully the feelings would fade.

Though he was waiting on whose feelings exactly?

——————

Yamaguchi clasped his hands in his lap like a good little school boy as he tried not to fidget in his seat. Tsukishima sat next to him, apparently absorbed in one of the books he’d bought during their Hogsmeade trip. The sun shone sparingly in the autumn sky, the air soft and cool. Around them, students chattered excitedly.

“Bakeyama, there’s no way you’re better than Ushiwaka at diving.” Hinata’s voice was audible above the din, despite the fact he and Kageyama were sitting a few rows ahead of them.

“Idiot, I didn’t say I was better right now. In a few years though, I plan to be.”

“Not if I get there first.”

“Being better isn’t a destination, moron.”

Loud laughter chimed in from the right, “I swear Akashi, it doesn’t hurt that much!” Yamaguchi turned to see Bokuto sporting a bandage wrapped around his head. “The Whomping Willow doesn’t hit that hard!”

“I told, you I’m way better than Ushiwaka, just you wait and see!” Goshiki screeched, oddly enough, to Lev. Though if Yamaguchi reflected on it, it wasn’t so odd; Lev was capable of making friends with anyone. He saw the other transfer student whom he hadn’t met yet though knew by sight, Kozume Kenma, sitting on the other side of Lev. Though he was seemingly concentrating on the Mugglebox in his hand, his expression looked a bit pinched, like he was suffering in silence. Maybe he was, Yamaguchi mused, as Lev turned in his seat to say something to him, rather animatedly, and Yamaguchi saw the look on Kenma’s face turn weary. Then Yamaguchi saw Kuroo sitting on the other side of Kenma, and Yamaguchi whipped his gaze back to the front.

Though he’d seen Kuroo since The Punch it’d been from a distance; he hadn’t ran into him, or across, or next to, or whatever other variance of ‘ran into’ Yamaguchi could think of. He definitely didn’t want to start now, like accidentally having eye contact.

“What do you think they’ll come by?” he asked, forgetting the fact he’d been trying not to disturb Tsukishima’s reading.

“Well, during the last one they arrived in a floating castle.” Tsukishima answered immediately, eyes still glued to the page. “Apparently it was drawn by a flock of dragons.”

“Dragons?” Yamaguchi echoed in wonder. Tsukishima had spent the previous dinner patiently answering Yamaguchi’s questions about the Triwizard Tournament. Like the fact that the last time it happened was ten years prior, when Aikiteru was still a student, and that it rarely occurred now because there was a large group of people across the magical community who very, very strongly protested the event due to the violence and the tragic deaths that had occurred in the past. Tsukishima had said they’d probably heard nothing about the event so far so as to prevent any outbursts of protests or anger in the magical community.

Luckily, since Yamaguchi was Muggle born, he wouldn’t have to deal with his mother or grandparents worrying over his well-being.

“So, uh… are you going to enter?” Yamaguchi’s eyes darted to Tsukishima’s face to gauge his reaction.

Except there wasn’t a reaction to gauge. Tsukishima simply pushed his glasses up his nose. “It sounds like it’d be a pain.”

“Ah, heh. Yeah,” Yamaguchi automatically agreed, twiddling his thumbs in his lap. He realized what he was doing and stopped.

Tsukishima turned a page. “You?” he asked, and it took a moment for Yamaguchi to realize Tsukishima was asking him the same.

“Oh! Uh, well. I dunno, I mean… I’m not sure. It’d be pretty problematic, dying and all…” he trailed off, listlessly. “Probably going to be really physically taxing as well…” His eye’s inadvertently strayed back to Kuroo, and to Kuroo’s muscles, before darting away. “Difficult… Dangerous…” He slid down a bit in his seat.

“Probably,” Tsukishima answered.

They heard a shout.

“They’re here! They’re here! Up there” The students all looked to the sky to try and locate the arriving Bulgarians. At first, there was seemingly nothing, then Yamaguchi saw it: a small cluster of tiny moving dots in the distance.

The dots were small, definitely not big enough to be castles, or even dragons. Maybe they were carriages?

“They’re flying! On broomsticks!” Hinata shouted, causing everyone to break out in excited discussion.

“Broomsticks? Does that mean they flew all they way here from Bulgaria?!” Inuoka asked.

“No way, that’s not possible, that’s almost two thousand miles!” Yaku answered.

However, as the figure drew closer, it was unmistakable that the arriving students were in fact riding on broomsticks. When they got even closer it was also unmistakable that there were only eight of them.

The grounds where quiet when they landed, the students silent out of surprise, or awe, or a combination of both.

“Hello,” Ushijima Wakatoshi said, bowing at Ukai and the group of teachers standing at the front. His deep voice carried over the silence. He stood at the head of the pack, back straight, broom already at his side. Yamaguchi had seen pictures of him in various Quidditch articles. He looked just as stern and imposing in real life and as he did in the pictures.

“They’re riding White Eagles!” Yamaguchi heard Hinata hiss.

“Where’s that midget Washijou?” Headmaster Ukai asked.

“Headmaster Washijou will be arriving later,” Ushijima informed Ukai. “He’s was waiting to hear that we arrived first.”

Headmaster Ukai barked a laugh. “Getting old is he? Can’t even keep up on a broom with his students.”

If Ushijima was offended or surprised to hear Ukai Sr. insult his headmaster, he didn’t show it. “He said not to make a fuss about his arrival.”

“So, are you needing to stay in the dormitories then?” Ukai questioned further, seeing their obvious lack of some kind of oversized magical accommodation.

“No, we’ve bought our provisions with us,” Ushjima indicated the pack on his back. “Tents.”

“Tents eh? Deciding to tough it out?”

“Only the strong can survive,” Ushijima replied calmly, his face as as solid as a sheet of rock.

Yamaguchi heard Tsukishima give an unexpected huff of laughter under his breath.

“Do you have an acceptable place we can set them up?”

“Of course. You can set them up in the quad. Daichi will take care of it.” Ukai indicated Daichi, then promptly turned and strode back to the castle. Yamaguchi watched the other teachers sway, indecisively, unsure of whether to follow their blunt headmaster or stay and welcome the surprisingly headmaster-less Durmstrang students.

“Ah, hi. I’m Sawamura Daichi.” Daichi strode forward and bowed to Ushjima. Ushjima bowed back. “And uh, these are the rest of the students.” Daichi waved a hand at the amazingly still silent Hogwarts crowd. Even the Beauxbaton students, sitting on the side with their Headmaster, were silent. Ushijima looked toward the crowd, unblinking. Yamaguchi saw a tall, lanky Durmstrang student in the background put his finger in his ear and start to dig around.

“Uh, we’ve prepared a welcoming for you.” Daichi coughed awkwardly. “Everyone?”

It took several seconds for the Hogwarts’ students to kick into gear. Then a disjointed cheer went up, along with several uncoordinated welcoming shouts and random horns blasting off. The icing on the cake was a pair of confetti canons that went off a beat too late in the aftermath of the cheering. Everyone watched in silence as the colorful confetti shot through the air then transformed into tiny, minute butterflies that fluttered away in the breeze. Yamaguchi thought it actually looked rather pretty.

“Uh. Yeah,” Daichi said, for lack of anything better to say. “Welcome.” He cleared his throat again, then seemed to pull himself together. “If you guys will follow me inside, I’ll take you to the quad.” He started back toward the castle.

“Well, that was anti-climatic,” Tsukishima commented, as everyone around them started shuffling in their seats.

“Heh, yeah.” Yamaguchi watched the other students get up and start to trail after the Durmstrang students, probably to watch them set up their tents or to fanboy over Ushijima.

“Uh, want to come help me feed my pygmy puffs?” Yamaguchi asked, knowing Tsukishima would definitely not want to watch a bunch of people set up tents, no matter how famous they were.

“Everyone’s probably going to the quad, so the common room and my dorm will be empty, and you didn’t get to see them after the last Hogsmeade trip since I had that project with Yachi,” he rambled, before mentally kicking himself. Brilliant move, Tadashi, remind Tsukki of the awkward, almost handhold that he still hasn’t acknowledged.

He waited, holding his breath, as Tsukishima got up from his seat and pocketed his book. He knew Tsukishima had a secret fondness for the tiny fluffy creatures, even though would never, ever admit or acknowledge it. He was always very careful to say “feed” and not “play” since he’d learned Tsukishima wouldn’t ever agree if he said “play”, though that’s basically what they did the entire time.

“Alright,” Tsukishima agreed.

They walked back to the castle, then down towards the Hufflepuff common room. Yamaguchi stopped off into the kitchen to collect some bacon sandwiches their breakfast, and some fruit for his pygmy puffs.

Tsukishima had to tap the barrel since Yamaguchi’s hands were full. When they entered the common room it was completely empty.

“Wow, it’s never even this empty during Hogsmeade trips,” Yamaguchi randomly mused as they walked through.

They walked up to Yamaguchi’s dorm, which was unsurprisingly empty as well. Yamaguchi put the food on his bedside table as Tsukishima settled onto Yamaguchi’s bed. Every student in Hufflepuff had a row of shelves built into the wall next to their bed. On one of Yamaguchi’s shelves stood a long cage, reaching from end to end. Inside were twelve pygmy puffs.

“Hey guys,” Yamaguchi greeted, as he opened the door and the tiny fluffy creatures scurried to get out. Two immediately bounced onto his shoulder, but the rest of them headed towards Tsukishima. For some reason they really liked Tsukishima. Maybe it was like how dogs took after their owners, Yamaguchi mused, as he saw his pets gather in one fluffy mass on Tsukishima’s lap. Maybe his pygmy puffs took after his liking for tall, blonde boys with sharp tongues and golden eyes.

All of Yamaguchi’s pygmy puffs were Hufflepuff yellow. It had started out as a joke with the first one, when Tsukishima had pointed out that if he bought a pygmy puff in that color he’d probably lose him easily since all the decorations in Hufflepuff were round and soft and yellow. Then to make Tsukishima even more amused, he’d bought more in the same color. Pygmy puffs really were identical. Apart from the color of their fur there was no discernible way to tell them them apart—they all had the same colored eyes, the same tiny claws— so predictably buying several of the same color would make them impossible to tell apart. As a further joke, no longer just for Tsukishima’s amusement, but for his own as well, he’d decided to name them all Henry.

Except somehow, Tsukishima had figured out a way to tell them apart. This baffled Yamaguchi who had spent several hours observing every inch of his pets, only to surmise that they were completely, one hundred percent, identical—but somehow, Tsukishima did it. Since Tsukishima could tell them apart he called them Henry I, Henry II, and so on and so forth. It was skill he refused to teach Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi could tell Tsukishima was privately amused whenever Yamaguchi would try to tell them apart as well, and Tsukishima would then have to correct him.

If Tsukishima hadn’t been so smart he would’ve thought the entire thing was a ruse, but when Tsukishima called any one of them by their respective title that specific pygmy puff responded. Yamaguchi had tested it out once, crafting tiny collars for them to keep track. Tsukishima had played along for a bit. Then at the end, with an amused grin, he’d removed them. Yamaguchi, he explained, should figure it out on his own.

On one hand he wanted to figure it out, in order to impress Tsukishima and prove that he was as smart as his best friend. On the other hand, he wanted to continually supply Tsukki with this weird brand of amusement for however long it would entertain him.

“They still like you more,” Yamaguchi commented, as the pgymy puffs climbed along Tsukishima. Tsukishima tsked, like he did everyone other time Yamaguchi pointed out their fondness for him.

Yamaguchi watched as Tsukishima picked up a strawberry in each hand and the pygmy puffs pounced. They pushed each other out of the way as they vied for a spot to nibble on the fresh fruit. Yamaguchi really wished he had a camera. Then he wished that if he did have a camera, Tsukishima would let him take a picture; one of the pygmy puffs had forgone the food to climb atop Tsukishima’s mass of golden hair and fall asleep. Yamaguchi felt like his insides were eternally squeeing at the sight.

Yamaguchi picked up a strawberry of his own, and held it up to the two little guys on his shoulder. They fell on the treat eagerly. When they finished he placed them on the bed so they could join the others being hand fed strawberries by Tsukishima. Yamaguchi was sort of jealous of his own pets.

He then went about puttering around his room like an old housewife, tidying up non-existent messes. He peeked out of the corner of his eye at Tsukishima every now and then, who was thoroughly engrossed with petting and observing the pygmy puffs as they hopped from bed to body part. Then, under a small pile of comics in the corner (most likely belonging to Lev) he discovered an identifiable substance growing. He tried to Scorgify it out, but the sludge was resistant. He decided to use some good old fashioned elbow grease and some All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover. It took a bit more time than he anticipated, but no way was he going to let the growth spread; it was already various shades of green. When he turned back around, cleaning products in hand, it was to a surprising sight.

Tsukishima was laying sideways across his bed, sound asleep. The pygmy puffs we’re nestled in various places along the pooled material of his robes, asleep as well.

Yamaguchi instantly held his breath, then very carefully and noiselessly moved to put away the cleaning products. Then, just as carefully, he tiptoed over to Tsukishima and crouched down, putting himself eye level with Tsukishima’s sideways face. He couldn’t help it, he wanted a closer look.

Tsukishima’s head was pillowed in the crook of his bent arm. His glasses were probably digging into his temple but Yamaguchi didn’t dare try to remove them, for fear of waking him. Tsukishima took deep, even breaths, quiet and concise even in sleep. His face was still calm and cool despite it lacking its usual derisive expression. He was the type of natural beautiful that Yamaguchi could never hope to achieve: a composition of symmetric angles and lines put together in proportions that could easily sell a magazine.

Yamaguchi sighed wistfully to himself. He really wished he had a camera…

Yamaguchi instantly looked toward Shibayama’s desk, where Shibayama’s camera always sat. His fingers twitched.

No, he shouldn’t.

It was wrong.

He’d be using something that wasn’t his, without permission, to take a picture of someone else, without permission.

Very wrong.

Sort of creepy as well.

On various levels.

Yamaguchi bit his lip, then stealthily crawled across the floor like an uncoordinated acromantula. He grabbed the camera and turned it on. He fiddled with the buttons, zooming in until Tsukishima’s face was as clear as it had been when he’d been observing close up.

He clicked.

Then the flash went off, bright and startling, because apparently he was an idiot who couldn’t even remember to turn of the one function that was guaranteed to mess everything up.

Through the viewfinder he could sleep Tsukishima’s face begin to scrunch up. He pulled the camera away from his face as it spat out a piece of glossy photo paper. The sheet fluttered in the air, spinning over on itself before alighting on a wooden floorboard some odd feet from Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi turned and quickly put the camera back in place. Then lunged toward the now developed photo of a sleeping Tsukishima on the floor, just as the real Tsukishima opened his eyes.

“What are you doing?” Yamaguchi looked up to see Tsukishima looking at him, still laying sideways.

“Uh, a bug! Really big bug!” Yamaguchi explained, both hands pressed firmly on the floor covering the incriminating evidence.

Tsukishima’s nose crinkled, “So you smashed it with your bare hands?” He sat up, the pygmy puffs falling from his body in a shower of cottony puffs that bounced on the way down. Several landed on Yamaguchi’s blanket still sound asleep.

“Hahhhhh, yeah. It’s so gross.” Yamaguchi felt his face getting that familiar dreadful hotness that appeared whenever he lied to Tsukishima. He was fucked. He was so, so fucked. “But I don’t think it’s dead yet, I don’t want to let it get away.” Maybe he could still get out of this…

“Well, move your hand so I can kill it,” Tsukishima pulled out his Black Walnut wand.

Yamaguchi was so completely and royally fucked.

“I- I can’t!” He squeaked, sweat beginning to bead along his temple. “Tsukki, this bug is dangerous! So dangerous! I can’t let it go!” he explained, desperately, realizing he was sounding like a loon now, but past caring. If Tsukishima saw the picture his life was over. Over.

Tsukishima just quirked a silky eyebrow.

Yamaguchi saw him raise his wand.

Everything stilled, like those rare moments during Quidditch when he really felt like he was in the zone and was able to calmly predict what strategy the other team was about to use. Except unlike Quidditch, he couldn’t do anything to stop what was about to happen.

“Petrificus Totalus,” Tsukishima recited.

Yamaguchi’s limbs seized up, arm snapped back to his sides as he useless feel forward, stiff as a plank.

Goodbye life, it was nice living you, for the short while that I did. Even as he watched Tsukishima stand up and approach him like a Death God swooping in to crush his soul into dust, he couldn’t bring himself to get angry, or even annoyed. Tsukishima, despite his vast proclivity towards indifference, was like a very, very curious cat, especially when something interested him. Though unlike the cat that was killed for its curiosity, Tsukishima always won and was able to satiate his appetite for information.

The Ravenclaw thirst for the unknown.

From his limited view Yamaguchi saw Tsukishima stoop and pick up the picture. He couldn’t see Tsukishima’s face as he stood back up, though he could imagine the surprise, then disgust as he realized what image the paper held.

Goodbye cruel world, I know you could have been a lot crueler, and for that I am grateful. He was in shock, he realized, which is why he could joke so cynically in his mind. Afterwards, the reality of the situation would hit. Then he’d be a crying ball of uselessness, grieving the pieces of his life sitting torn by his feet. He’d probably have to transfer schools—no he’d probably have to completely exile himself from the magical community and go back to being a Muggle. As painful as that would be it wouldn’t compare to the humiliation that was about to follow.

“Creepy.”

The word shot like a frozen arrow burning against flesh, straight through Yamaguchi’s heart. Of course taking a picture of someone without their permission was creepy. Taking a picture of someone without their permission while they were sleeping was even creepier.

Tsukishima’s tsk brought him out of his mental meltdown. “You could have just asked.” He waited for more, for the insults or the put downs, but all he heard was footsteps. It took him a bit more to realize that Tsukishima had walked away.

Wha?

“You could have just asked.” The words echoed in his mind, over and over, as he lay there, unmoving on the wooden floor. They were still echoing in his mind some seven or eight minutes later when Shibuyama came up and found him.

“Ack! Yamaguchi, what happened?” Shibuyama hurried over and released the spell.

“Thanks Shibuyama.” Yamaguchi sat up and worked the crinks out of his body. “Just a stupid accident, is all.”

“Sure ok.” Shibuyama smiled cheerfully, then went to his desk to gather his books. That was the good thing about Shibuyama, he didn’t pry. Thankfully, Shibuyama didn’t seem to notice that his camera had been used. “Class is starting.”

“Right, thanks.” Yamaguchi picked up his sleeping pygmy puffs from his bed, stuffing them back into their cage. He grabbed his already packed book bag and followed after Shibuyama, mind still in a daze.

You could have just asked.

What was that even supposed to mean exactly?

That Yamaguchi could have asked Tsukishima for permission to take a picture, and he would have let him? Or was it meant to be taken in an incredulous manner, as in, "Wow, Yamaguchi, you creeping creeper, you could have just asked." Or was it just typical Tsukishima logic: a simple, factual statement of "You could have just asked (But with an underlying "I wouldn't have necessarily answered in the affirmative.").

Gods he was about to mentally suffer ruminating this newest mind bending Tsukihima conundrum for another Charms class. Probably Ancient Runes too. Actually, probably for every other class this week.

His grades were really going to start suffering soon.

 

 

—————

 

 

Goshiki peeked around a stone pillar at the seemingly empty camp ground of the Durmstrang students. Class had started and the Durmstrang students had left with Daichi to go on a tour of the castle. Normally Goshiki was not only an upstanding Quidditch player, but also an upstanding student, so he never skipped class.

However, desperate times called for even more desperate measures, so for the first time in his life he’d skipped class. It was important to gather as much intel on the enemy, and who knew how long they had until the participants in the Triwizard Tournament were selected. Goshiki planned to be selected. He not only planned to be selected, he planned to win. He needed to optimize his odds for that to happen, by any means necessary. Which meant that gathering intel on the person he judged as his fiercest competitor (Ushijima) was necessary.

He looked to the left, and to the right, then to the left again. Seeing that the coast was clear, he very ingeniously darted from the pillar to behind the closest tent. Earlier he’d watched carefully to see which tent was Ushijima’s.

He looked to the right, then to the left, then to the right away, and dashed toward the tent he was targeting, only to run smack dab into what felt like a wall. He fell onto the grass, hard. He immediately sprang back up, but nothing was in front of him beside the tents.

“Ohhhh, I seem to have caught a little mouse, sneaking and skittering where it shouldn’t be,” a voice said, and he turned to see the tall, lanky Durmstrang kid that had flanked Ushijima since his arrival. His wand was held out, pointing at Goshiki, and Goshiki felt a twinge of terror before rising into a defensive position. He was Goshiki Tsutomu, soon to be the best underage Quidditch Player of all time. If he couldn’t defeat Ushiwaka’s henchmen, then he wasn’t a man.

“Stay back!” Goshiki whipped out his wand. “I plan to overtake Ushijima, so the likes of you won’t stop me.”

“Hmmmm?” The red-haired boy’s head tilted to the right, eye’s widening eerily. “You think you can take me on? Me? Tendou Satori, Miracle Boy, Guess Monster, Clairvoyant Beater of the Quidditch world?”

Goshiki unconsciously took a step back at the erratic, unblinking look in the other boy’s eyes.

“Yea- yeah! Come at me! I’ll out duel you any day!” Goshiki shouted, willing his legs not to shake.

“Pumpkin pie, I spy, with my beautiful eyes, a little rodent who needs to be exterminated!” The self-proclaimed Tendou chanted, as he raised his wand higher, beginning to walk slowly toward Goshiki.

“Not only will I out duel you, I’ll out fly you as well!” Goshiki continued to rant, raising his own wand higher.

“Oh?” Tendou stopped, doing his disturbing head tilt again. “Oh? What was that? Flying?” Suddenly he straightened up, slipping his wand into his sleeve. “Well why didn’t you say so?”

“Huh? What-” Goshiki was only able to get out before Tendou was suddenly standing in front of him, Goshiki’s wand in his hand. Before Goshiki could react, he stuffed Goshiki’s wand in Goshiki’s pocket, and was hauling the younger boy behind him.

“A flying competition! I accept the challenge! Of course I do. What a delight, my dear new Hogwarts acquaintance.”

What the hell’s with this guy? Goshiki was only able to stumble along after Tendou, whose grip was ironclad.

“So much fun, what fun, on my first day at Hogwarts school of witchcraftery,” Tendou gushed, seemingly to himself, as he pulled Goshiki along, ignoring Goshiki’s struggling.

Then Goshiki spent the entire morning and afternoon flying against the insane monster known as Tendou Satori and not only skipped the first class of his life but another two.

And then, it was dinnertime.

 

 

——————

 

 

“I know you’re all dying to know how the school champions are going to be selected,” Ukai said to the students as they feasted. They were having another celebratory dinner for their new arrivals: Deep red and black decorations swarmed the Great Hall and the food was apparently a fusion of English and Bulgarian cuisine. Daichi picked at the strange dish in front of him, it was some kind of fish, or at least it resembled fish, swimming in a lake of yellow cream sauce.

“First things first, let me address the thing that’s on most of your minds: the age restriction. In previous years an age restriction was put into place, so that only those of legal wizarding age would be allowed to participate. However, I think that’s absolute baloney. What one wizard knows at seventeen or seventy might not match up to what one knows at seven. Age doesn’t equate to wisdom or experience. Therefore, there will be no age restriction in place.” There was a murmur of happy whispers and squeals at the exciting news. “However,” Ukai cut them off before the ruckus could get out of hand, “that doesn’t mean we’re just going to let you waltz right in and enter without putting some effort into it.” There was another murmur, this time with an undercurrent of unease.

“Professor Takeda will tell you the terms of entering.” Ukai sat and their Potions teacher stood up.

“Hello everyone,” Takeda greeted happily.

“Go Take-chan!” Nishinoya shouted, causing the short man to blush.

“I’ll keep this extremely short and to the point. Listen carefully.” Takeda paused, almost theatrically, looking around to see that he had everyone’s attention. “Those of you who want to enter the tournament must tell someone who does not fear death, as the dawn rises.” Takeda beamed as he looked around the room. “ You have a week to enter, if you so wish.” At his words a large banner sized sheet of parchment paper appeared behind him, hovering above the teachers’ table. Towards the top of the parchment a row of zeros stood. “The names of whomever enters will be placed on this list, for all to see. That is all.” As Takeda sat down the zeros changed into a timer set set to 7:00:00:00 that began to count down.

There was a beat of silence as the students absorbed his words. Then the tables broke out in chaos:

“What kind of cracked out metaphor was that?!” Daichi heard Kamasaki roar.

“One who doesn’t fear death? He must be sca- scary!” Yachi’s small voice floated over from behind him. He turned and saw her saw her covering her eyes with her hands.

“Damn it all why did it have to be riddles and thinking logically, why couldn’t it have just been something simple like a duel?” Tanaka hollered.

“This is unfairly fashioned in favor of the Ravenclaws!” Nishinoya yelled, loudest of all. There were several agreeing shouts that rose up at his declaration from the Gryffindor table. Daichi cringed. They were practically declaring to the visiting students that they were idiots.

“Ushijima Wakatoshi!” A voice roared, even louder than Nishinoya’s shout. Eyes swiveled around the room to locate the source. Daichi saw Goshiki standing at the end of the Hufflepuff table, where the Durmstrage students sat in a group. Goshiki stood with one hand on his hip, the other dramatically pointed at Ushijima.

“Yes?” Ushjima answered into the sudden interested silence of the other students.

“I want to enter the Triwizard Tournament!” Goshiki declared, pounding a fist into his chest. “And I will defeat you!”

There was a pause. All the other student’s eyes were glued to the pair.

Then Ushijima nodded, face straight. “Alright.”

There was another pause. Then several people from the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables started snickering. Daichi saw the Durmstrang students politely hiding their amused smiles behind their hands. Goshiki’s cheeks reddened.

“He- hey! Aren’t you someone who doesn’t fear death?” He questioned, confused, but still angry.

“Only the weak do not fear death,” Ushjima simply stated, then went back to his potatoes, conversation clearly over. Goshiki stood shell-shocked, looking like a bomb had went off inside of his head as Ushijima calming forked some food into his mouth.

“Goshiki you idiot, come sit back down before you embarrass us even more,” Yahaba scolded from the Slytherin table. Goshiki slunked back to his seat, shoulders drooping, amidst more laughter. Daichi saw several Beauxbatons students giggling as well.

Daichi sighed.

It was going to be a long week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who can guess EXACTLY what the riddle means before I post the next chapter will win a prize! :D


	10. Temptation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update for Kag's birthday :D

Yamaguchi slipped quietly out of the Great Hall. His heart pounded as he made his way down to the Hufflepuff basement. He tapped the barrel and hurriedly walked through the passageway into the common room.

“Fat Friar?” He called into the empty air. He knew the house ghost had to be somewhere near, since he'd been absent at the festivities just then. “Fat Friar where are you?”

“Ah, young master Yamaguchi.” The Fat Friar floated through a picture of a purple anemone on the wall. He smiled jovially at Yamaguchi. “How may I assist you?”

Yamaguchi felt excitement well up at the sight of his favorite ghost. “I was wondering, if you’re the answer?”

“The answer to what my dear boy?”

“To the Triwizard entrance riddle, you know ‘Tell someone who does not fear death’. A ghost doesn’t fear death right?” The Fat Friar’s smile turned kind.

“Ah, yes, that’s a common misconception isn’t it? That a ghost wouldn’t fear death. But what is a ghost? As the great Severus Snape once said, it is the imprint of a departed soul left on earth.” The Fat Friar paused and looked to the side. The glow of twilight seeping through the windows made his body look even more transparent that usual. “But in fact, it is actually the souls that fear death the most that are unable to leave this earth.” The expression on his face took on a tone of sadness, eyes deprived of their usual merriment. “So while it was a wise guess Yamaguchi, my lad, I’m afraid it wasn’t the right one.”

“Oh, ok. Thanks.” Yamaguchi’s insides had turned into a well of disappointment. He left the Fat Friar to go sit in his room and think.

To not fear death?

That seemed an impossible task.

———

The days after the new guest students arrived were exciting: There was always a new face for Hinata to see (even if he was too shy or intimidated to introduce himself). There were new kinds of food at every meal to try. One exciting afternoon Ushijima and the rest of the Durmstrang students had even arranged a flying demonstration that Hinata had eagerly watched to try to gain some pointers. The best thing of all was that he was practically spending every bit of free time with Kageyama.

To be more correct, he was also spending that time with Kouji, Izumi, Yachi, Runa, and a Beauxbaton student named Mai that Yachi and Runa had befriended. They had formed a sort of group, united under the task of solving the riddle to enter the Triwizard Tournament. They’d also asked Kindaichi and Kumini, and Yamaguchi and Tsukishima to join them, but both pairs of friends had rejected the offer.

They met up every day in the library, in the free time that fell between the end of classes and the few hours after dinner before curfew. Hinata had thought the first several days had been fun. Sometimes they’d laugh and joke as they scoured through books and sometimes they were silent. They had interesting brainstorming sessions that often ended in Pictionary (Kageyama had never played before and at first he’d declared the game stupid. Now he couldn’t get enough.) Yet, after a few days passed, Hinata began to get a feeling of unease that had nothing to do with the the time limit drawing closer and closer. Hinata had started to notice that whenever their group was together, or specifically, whenever they were around Mai, Mai would stare at Kageyama.

The first time he’d seen it had been during one of their quieter research moments. He’d looked up from _The Magical Curses of Ireland_ text he was reading, about to show everyone a picture of an angry leprechaun that looked remarkably like Kageyama, when he’d caught Mai outright staring at Kageyama. She wasn’t even being sneaky about it like Hinata had learned to be. Her tome lay forgotten on the floor as she rested her head in her hands and outright ogled Kageyama who was sitting down the aisle from her. Hinata almost felt scandalized in Kageyama’s place at the sappy, googly-eyed look on her face.

Then he’d remembered the picture and held up his text, announcing to everyone he’d found Kageyama’s cousin, causing everyone but Kageyama to burst into giggles and earning Hinata an extra long head squeeze. It was so long it made him forget about Mai and her stare and made him wonder if it was possible to get brain damage from the professional head squeezes of an almost professional Quidditch player.

But then that night, after dinner, when he came back to the group after a bathroom break, he’d caught Mai at it again. This time they were all sitting at a table and Kageyama was sitting across from Mai, head bent over a book and completely oblivious as she watched him reading.

Hinata stopped at the end of the aisle in the magical cures section and just stared at Mai staring at Kageyama. He felt a hot, unpleasant pulling in his stomach that grew bigger and bigger the longer he watched. Unexpectedly, Kageyama looked up as though he’d sensed Hinata’s presence, confusion coloring his eyes at Hinata’s awkwardly frozen pose.

“What are you doing?” Kageyama asked, causing everyone else at the table to look up and see who Kageyama was addressing

The sudden pressure of six pairs of eyes was unnerving. Hinata clumsily groped behind him and grabbed a random book off the nearest shelf.

“Nothing! Just getting more research materials!” Hinata quickly waved the book in front of him as evidence, then walked back to his seat next to Kageyama. He still felt Kageyama’s eyes on him though the others had gotten back to work, which left him no choice but to open _101 Magical Uses for Bubotuber Pus_ and pretend to peruse the pages until he felt Kageyama’s gaze slide off of him.

It was useless to even try to pretend to work. Hinata’s mind kept thinking about the look on Mai’s face as she stared at Kageyama. It was obvious she had a crush on him. It wasn’t a surprise, a lot of girls had crushes on Kageyama, Hinata knew that. He’d teased Kageyama about it countless times already—it was pretty funny actually— but for some reason the fact that Mai had a crush on Kageyama bothered him.

He was still stuck on this revelation twenty minutes later.

When he realized what he was doing he jerked back from the table so quickly the feet of his chair screeched against the floor. Again, six pairs of eyes looked up at him. He needed to get outside; suddenly being cooped up inside felt stifling.

“Bathroom,” he muttered again. He quickly strode away, out of the library and down the hallway, bypassing the bathroom. He fled down the stairs until he was in the front hall, then he walked out the entrance into the night. Outside the sky was dark and the air was misty. The stone path underneath his feet was slick with moisture. It was bitingly cold but after feeling like like he was suffocating in the confines of the library the frigid air was almost refreshing.

Then Kageyama’s voice asked behind him, “What’s wrong?”

Hinata startled and whipped around so fast he slipped on the wet surface beneath his feet. Reflexively Kageyama’s hands reached out and steadied him. The hands that held Hinata’s arms felt so much larger than his own and Hinata could feel their heat through the fabric of his robes. He stepped away.

“Why’re you out here?” he asked.

“Why’re you out here?”

“I asked you first.”

“Well I asked you what was wrong before that.” Kageyama’s tone was steadfast and stubborn. Hinata knew they could go on like this for hours. Normally he’d engage in the useless debate (it was always a good way to prolong the moment they had to part) but tonight he just wasn’t in the mood.

“Nothing alright? I just wanted a change of scenery. My eyes were starting to bother me after looking at all the small words for so long.”

Kageyama’s brows drew together in confusion. “We were only there for an hour though.”

“An hour’s a long time!”

“This is why your grades suck.”

The insult was of a casual inflection, not meant to truly barb, but Hinata bristled anyway.

“Well, this is why you suck!” he spat.

“That doesn’t even make sense moron.”

“You don’t make sense!”

“Are you just going to repeat everything I say back at me?”

“If it’s what it takes for you to go away!”

“Fine!” Kageyama shouted, then turned and stormed off angrily. Instead of leaving Hinata satisfied with the win a feeling of dread slid through him as he watched Kageyama stomp up the stairs. The dread mixed into the consuming burning in his stomach that still simmered quietly, like a kettle set on the back burner waiting for enough heat to slowly build before whistling.

Hinata turned and ran. He ran blindly, letting his feet take him wherever they wanted as the chilly air bit at his cheeks. He flew over wide expanses of grass and jumped over rocks and clods of dirt. Then he was bending over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath before he realized where he was: the Quidditch pitch.

He thought about summoning his broom, but his feet felt unsteady and for once he didn’t feel like flying. He turned and jogged up the stairs to the stadium seats. He plopped down in a random section and just sat there trying to even out his breathing. The Quidditch pitch calmed him. Even now in the dark of night, covered in a blanket of misty fog like the foreshadowing sign of a pack of Dementors about to swoop down from the grey clouds above and attack…it still calmed him.

“Hey.”

Hinata screeched so loud it was possible the students in the castle heard.

Ok, so maybe the mist did made the pitch a little extra creepy.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

The voice was quiet, almost dead sounding. Hinata turned to search for its owner but nobody was behind him. His eyes roved through the seats until they lighted on a small figure sitting in the top most left corner.

It was dark, but the person was holding something in their hands that illuminated their face enough for Hinata to see who it was.

“You’re Kozume-san right?” Hinata asked, fright immediately forgotten. He stood and turned, then leapt up the rows of benches in a crosswise pattern until he was standing next to Kouzume Kenma, who looked up at him with slightly startled eyes. Then Kenma’s gaze dropped down to the Mugglebox in his hands. “Just Kenma’s fine.”

Hinata took this an as invitation to sit down beside him. “Hi Kenma. I’m Hinata Shouyou.”

“I know.”

Hinata’s eyes bulged. “You do?!”

“I saw your Quidditch tryout.” Kenma’s eyes darted back and forth as they followed something across the screen in front of him. “And you’re always with Kageyama Tobio.”

“Oh.” The unpleasant feeling in Hinata’s stomach resurrected itself at the mention of Kageyama.

The lights reflecting off of Kenma’s face stopped moving. He looked at Hinata with clear citrine eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t know you two were fighting.”

“EHH?!” Hinata looked at him with wide eyes. “How did you know that?!”

“Just a guess.” Kenma looked away, towards the misty expanse of the Quidditch pitch.

“What’re you doing out here anyway?” Hinata questioned, when the few moments of silence stretched out longer than he liked.

“Everyone’s all hyped up over the Triwizard Tournament,” Kenma answered.

“That bothers you?”

“Well not specifically that. It’s just that they all keep asking me what I think the answer is.”

“Oh.”

This time the silence was broken by Kenma.

“Go ahead and do it.”

“Do what?”

“Ask me what I think the answer is.”

Hinata looked at Kenma, confused. “Why would I ask that?”

Kenma gave Hinata a long, considering look. Then his eyes went back to looking at the Quidditch field. Hinata got the feeling that even if Kenma was looking at him his gaze would still be unreadable. “After hearing that, most people wouldn’t care if it bugged me. They’d assume that since so many other people asked me for my opinion that I must know the answer.” Kenma shrugged, like it couldn’t be helped. “So most people would’ve asked me what I thought, just now. I assumed you were one of them. Sorry.”

“It's ok," Hinata reassured him, not really understanding the meaning of Kenma's words. "I wouldn't have asked though, that'd be so mean. You just said you didn’t like it!”

The corner of Kenma’s lip raised. “Yeah.”

“What’re you playing anyway?” Hinata questioned, abruptly and unintentionally changing the subject. He looked curiously at the black handheld resting in Kenma’s hands. “I’ve never actually seen a Mugglebox before!”

“Hmm, really? You want to watch me play?”

“Sure!”

Kenma pushed something on his device and 3D holographic images rose into the air above it.

“Whoa, that’s so cool!”

Hinata sat there and watched the little figures in the air dart around as Kenma played his game. He felt strangely comfortable. Not that he had a problem feeling comfortable around anyone, but this was different; he felt like he could sit and watch Kenma play his Mugglebox for hours and not say anything and not get bored and that would be just fine.

So he did.

———

  
It was just before the beginning of curfew when Hinata walked up the stairs back to the Gryffindor common room (he’d dropped off Kenma in the dungeons, despite the other boy insisting he didn’t have to).

He felt better than he had a few hours ago, but when he thought about the way Mai looked at Kageyama it still made his stomach erupt in a quiet unpleasant heat. When Hinata got to the seventh floor he saw Kageyama standing a little bit aways from the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was snoozing in her frame, a precariously tipping wine glass in her hand.

Kageyama stood with his head down, just staring at the floor.

Hinata called to him. “Kageyama?”

Kageyama’s head snapped up and he looked at Hinata as though he were surprised to see him. Then his expression soured.

“Where’ve you been?”

“Eh? At the Quidditch Pitch… were you… were you waiting for me?”

Kageyama scoffed. “What the hell else would I be doing?”

“Oh.” Hinata got a queer feeling in his belly, warm and squirmy all at once, like a wriggling puppy sliding along the surface of a buttered piece of parchment paper. “How long have you been waiting for me?”

“Not long.” Kageyama took a step back for some reason, half-retreating into the shadows of the hallway so that Hinata couldn’t see his expression

Usually Hinata had too many things to tell Kageyama all at once, so many things he had difficulty picking which one was most important to share, but at that moment, staring at Kageyama just a few yards in front of him, his mind felt empty.

“Why were you mad earlier?” Kageyama’s tone was quieter than usual, as though the shadows hiding his face were a barrier to his voice reaching Hinata. Something about Kageyama’s posture felt weird and not right: too straight and hunched at the same time. He was hurt, Hinata realized and Hinata also realized it was his fault. He thought back to the way Kageyama had followed after him earlier, not knowing why he was upset, and instead of figuring it out Hinata had yelled at him to go away.

Hinata’s heart gave a hiccup. He wanted to walk over to Kageyama and hug him and apologize for fighting with him even though they fought all the time and this wasn’t even one of their bad fights.

Hinata looked down at the tips of his worn shoes and decided to try for honesty. “I don’t like how Mai keeps staring at you.”

“What?” Kageyama’s voice lacked its usually gruffness, showing how earnestly startled he was by Hinata’s admission.

“Mai’s always staring at you.” Hinata scuffed the toe of his shoe against the stone floor. He peeked up at Kageyama, who was looking down at his own toes with a characteristic frown on his face. “She likes you. So she stares at you all the time. I don’t… like it.”

“A lot of girls like me.” The words were simply a statement. Kageyama looked up, locking eyes with Hinata. “ A lot of them stare at me also, you said so yourself. You know that, you knew that, you're the one that teases me all the time about it. Why is it bothering you all of a sudden?” The look in his eyes was baffled, his brow scrunched in confusion.

Hinata’s face felt hot. He knew the reason why it was bothering him. He was jealous. He was completely, irrationally jealous and he was maybe also being sort of petty. Despite all of Mai’s glances he’d never seen Kageyama stare back at her. If he was being completely truthful, when he’d racked his brain earlier he couldn’t even remember a time Kageyama had spoken to Mai.

He was plainly and painfully jealous. He was aware of that.

The awareness didn’t make the feeling any less unpleasant.

“Because,” Hinata felt like tearing his hair out of his head but he kept his hands at his sides, though his gaze dropped back down to his shoes, “because it’s normal to be jealous when you see other people checking out your boyfriend right in front of you.”

Silence.

Then, more silence.

Hinata looked up. Kageyama stood there, his face an interesting shade of red. His mouth was open, eyes unfocused like he’d been hit by a truckload of Stupify spells.

Hinata started toward him. “Kageyama, are you alright?!”

_“What did you just call me?!”_

Hinata froze as he thought about his words. Then his own face reddened as he realized his mistake. “Oh! I mean— I didn’t mean to call you my boyfriend. That just slipped out. I know we’ve never discussed labels or anything like Noya-san has told me about, but it’s just in my mind, since we’ve been dating—”

_“Since we’ve been what?!”_

Hinata felt dread slip into his stomach at Kageyama’s near shout. “Da—dating? I mean I know we haven’t been dating long, and I’m not trying to rush you into any commitment you don’t want—”

“Stop. Just stop.” Kageyama’s voice was as angry as Hinata’d ever heard it. “Since when we’re we dating?!” Kageyama asked him, desperation coloring his tone, and Hinata’s body felt like it’d been dunked into ice water then set aflame at all once.

“Since our date at Madam Puddifoot’s?” Hinata replied in a small tone, confusion and realization bubbling up in his body at the same time. “Because of our bet?”

“Who said that was a date?” Kageyama was no longer shouting, but there was panic in his voice, his eyes wide as he stared at Hinata.

“Well… I don’t know… no one said,” Hinata felt like he was about to be sick as the realization overtook his confusion, giving him some clarity about the situation. It hit him like a shot to the chest but he continued with his line of explanation, “but like… it was sort of assumed? We went there, all dressed up—and you know, it’s Madam Puddifoot’s, everyone knows what that means when two people go there together—and then we’ve been having all these study dates and eating meals together.” Hinata felt his eyes begin to sting when he heard the desperation in his own voice.

“But we’re always eating and studying, and even if we’re alone we always end up around other people. How are those dates?” Kageyama asked him in disbelief.

“I— I don’t know…” Hinata trailed off, dread filled his stomach, sinking and cold. The look on Kageyama’s face was blank and confused.

“Kageyama I—” Kageyama looked at him as though Hinata were speaking Mermish or some entirely foreign language. As though he couldn’t comprehend Hinata’s words.

As though what Hinata was saying was an absurdity and didn’t exist in reality.

At the look on Kageyama’s face Hinata turned and fled. Even though his body had reacted on its own he was glad that it did, since the tears had begun to pool in his eyes.

How had he been so unbelievably stupid? People always called him stupid, Kageyama the most of all, but how had he just assumed they were dating when it was obvious from Kageyama’s reaction just now that the thought hadn’t ever even crossed Kageyama’s mind.

A hand yanked him back, stopping him in his tracks and steadying him at the same time.

“You’re not running away again moron!” Kageyama hissed, hand tight on Hinata’s shoulder. He spun Hinata around.

Hinata tried to turn his head away to hide the tears.

“I’m sorry!” he cried, “I like you and we were spending so much time together and doing these things that other people said that couples do and I thought that was dating, and I thought— I thought you liked me too.” The tears began to fall. He couldn't stop them.

He stood there, sobbing, trapped underneath the weight of Kageyama’s hands on his shoulders. He felt ashamed and humiliated and most of all sad. He was stressed and jealous. He was crying so hard he didn’t notice when Kageyama’s hands cupped his head, but he felt it when Kageyama’s thumbs began to brush the tears from his cheeks.

“You really are an idiot,” Kageyama stated, voice gruff, which only made Hinata cry harder.

  
———

 

Kageyama stared down at Hinata’s crying face, his nose already red and running like a small child’s.

“I’m an idiot too though,” Kageyama confessed plainly to the crying boy in front of him.

He gently thumbed more tears away from Hinata’s face. “An even bigger idiot,” he whispered, more to himself than to Hinata.

Carefully he leaned down, pressing his forehead against Hinata’s, surprising the smaller boy out of his sobs. “If you’re an idiot, then I’m an even bigger one,” he repeated, eyes closing.

He stood there, his forehead kissing Hinata’s. Hinata trembled beneath his hands every time a residual sob escaped his body. He could smell the salt of Hinata’s tears, felt their heat as they dripped past his fingers. The damp trails they left against his skin cooled in the cold night air of the castle. He willed his body to radiate a calm that the other boy could feel.

“I like you,” he said to Hinata as he breathed in Hinata’s scent. “I really like you.”

Hinata stilled. He looked up at Kageyama, brown eyes peeking between wet eyelashes. “You do?”

Instead of answering Kageyama pulled away from Hinata, long enough to wipe the other boy’s face clean with his robes. Then he grabbed him and pulled him back towards his front, nestling Hinata’s head against his chest.

“I was just surprised back there. You fucking surprised me.” Kageyama felt heat bloom across his cheeks and he was glad that he was holding Hinata against him because if he was looking at Hinata he probably wouldn’t have had the courage to continue. “It’s not that I didn’t—that I don’t—want to date you. It’s just that I was stupid and didn’t realize those were dates. Communication error or something.” Suga _had_ told him he needed to make sure to communicate clearly, which he’d obviously failed to do. “I’ve never dated anyone before. I... I've never even liked anyone before. I’m still new at this.” The admission made his cheeks burn even hotter. He looked up at the ceiling as though he could escape the embarrassment. “This whole time… I’ve been trying to figure out how to ask you out on a date.”

“You have?!” Hinata’s voice was muffled in the material of Kageyama's robes. He felt Hinata try to pull back to look up at him. He kept his hand firmly cradled behind Hinata’s head, preventing him from moving. There was no way in hell he’d let Hinata see his face at the moment.

“I tried to ask you to lunch before, that time in the corridor when we ran into Suga and Daichi-san doing, uh, activities,”—his face burned again at the memory—“but then you pointed out that we always do that, so I figured it wasn’t a date. And then all the times afterwards I thought we were just hanging out and they weren’t dates also, since we always did them.”

“Oh.” Hinata’s hands bunched into his robes. He was still a long time, taking long shaking breaths that Kageyama could feel. Kageyama didn’t mind. He stood there and let Hinata breathe.

“Kageyama?” Hinata’s voice was small.

“What?”

“We’re both really stupid aren’t we?”

Kageyama snorted.

“Yeah, we are. But don’t tell anyone else.”

Hinata giggled against his front. Kageyama’s own face cracked into a smile at the sound. He pulled Hinata’s head even tighter against him. Yeah, there was no way Hinata was seeing him smiling, he didn’t want to ruin the moment. Luckily, Hinata seemed content to stand there wrapped in Kageyama’s arms.

Kageyama looked resolutely at the wall across from him. His heart started to beat in his eardrums. He forced his body to take even, deep breaths. “Hinata, would you like to go on a date with me?”

He felt more than heard Hinata’s gasp against him. Then Hinata started crying again, but this time he didn’t sob; the tears fell silently, soaking Kageyama’s front.

“Yeah,” Hinata whispered. Kageyama could hear him the smile in his voice. “I would.”

  
————

Daichi tried not to breathe as he tiptoed down the stairs away from his two hugging kohai. Luckily, they were so engrossed with one another they didn’t notice him at all.

Daichi had been patrolling the corridors when he’d heard shouting. He’d arrived just in time to see Kageyama grab a crying Hinata. Instead of reprimanding them like he’d planned, he’d ducked back behind the corner and shamefully listened to their exchange. He only sort of felt guilty in the aftermath of what he’d heard, along with an overwhelming sense of pride that he felt for Hinata and Kageyama finally sorting out their feelings properly.

But still…

Suga was really a bad, bad influence. Before this Daichi hadn’t ever been tempted to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. Nor did he care to become invested in other people’s love lives. But somehow, here he was, squealing in his mind like a rabid fangirl at the most recent Kageyama and Hinata development. Worst of all he _wanted_ to tell Suga about it.

 _Gossipmonger_ , his conscience mockingly whispered as he absentmindedly wandered down a corridor.

Daichi mentally hung his head in shame. It was true. He was turning into a gossip. This was definitely all Suga’s fault. He was going to reprimand Suga about his bad habits as soon as he saw him and about how said bad habits were easily prone to rubbing off on others.

When he saw Suga he was going to give the other boy a piece of his mind no matter how cute Suga looked.

“Daichi!”

Daichi whipped around, wondering if Suga was like the anti-boogieman. Since he was so inherently good, if a person was horrible enough to think three bad thoughts about him, would he be summoned? Then Daichi’s corrupted mind began to go astray, thinking about how utterly convenient it would be to summon Suga on command. He looked up at Suga walking towards him, smile beautifully blinding, and his horribly corrupted mind went blank. Bad thoughts about Suga? Suga a bad person? What had he been thinking just now? Who in their right mind would ever think a bad thought about this man composed of sugar standing in front of him?

“Hi.” Suga stopped a few feet away from him. He was wearing an oversized deep blue sweater and black jeans. There was a dark grey beanie on his head that Daichi blessed the fashion gods for making.  
“Nice night for a walk isn’t it?”

Daichi stood there grinning like a fool for two more seconds before his Headboy self-inflicted training kicked in. “Suga! It’s after curfew! I’m going to have to write you up!”

“Oh?” Suga smiled a mischievous smile that had Daichi desperately telling his body to behave itself lest certain parts of his anatomy decided to make themselves be known in unfortunately embarrassing ways. “Didn’t they tell you that at Beauxbaton’s I’m the Headboy? So now that my school is here I’m needed to patrol the castle to make sure no errant lovestruck students wander astray.”

“No.” Daichi panicked, trying to think back to the recent conversations he’d had with either Ukai. He tried to remember if either of them had mentioned such an important detail to him. “Wow Suga, you’re really Headboy too?”

“Of course not!” Suga replied so easily and good-naturedly it took Daichi a few moments to catch up.

By the time he did Suga was already walking away.

“What?!” He hurried to catch up to Suga. “How can you just lie like that?!”

“It was a joke Daichi, a joke.” Suga side-eyed him playfully but didn’t stop walking. “You need to stop taking everything so seriously. Have some fun. You’ll give yourself forehead wrinkles.”

“Have you been talking to Kuroo?” Daichi asked, as he practically jogged to keep up with Suga’s quick strides.

“Hmm, I talk to Kuroo a fair amount,” Suga shook his head side to side as though loosening his neck. “We just had a conversation today in fact. Why do you ask?”

“Uh, no reason,” Daichi grumbled. They started descending the staircases at a rapid pace. Only years of chasing after Nishinoya and Tanaka and Hinata and Inuoka and most recently Lev—ok basically all of the younger students—made Daichi able to keep up with Suga’s pace. Suga was obviously a man on a mission. “Where exactly are you going?”

“Hmm?” Suga hummed over his shoulder.

“I asked where you’re going?”

“To the Beauxbaton cabinet.”

“Why?” Daichi asked, as they descended the grand staircase in the entrance hall. He followed Suga as the other boy stopped in front of the magnificent cabinet, the night torches reflecting prettily off its surface.

Suga grabbed hold of a door and yanked it open unceremoniously. He turned and gave Daichi a bright smile. “Because I want to show you our castle of course!” He grabbed Daichi’s hand and pulled him into the darkness.

  
———

When Suga opened the cabinet door Daichi didn’t know what to expect. In fact, his mind was still reeling from the shocking development that he was apparently about to step foot into Beauxbaton Academy. He felt similar to the time Suga had grabbed onto the Portkey with him and Kuroo; it was like he was watching the situation rapidly spin out of control as Suga smiled brightly in front of him, standing at the helm of the chaos.

He forgot his mental freakout as the light from Beauxbaton spilled into the dark cabinet.

It was beautiful.

Beautiful like the movies in Hollywood where they recreated castles with fine tapestries of silk, and chandeliers made of crystal, and floors made of solid marble. It was more beautiful than the finest hotel Daichi had ever stepped foot in. The banister of the double-sided grand staircase looked like it was solid gold.

“Wow,” Daichi breathed, stepping out of the cabinet even before Suga, “this is beautiful.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice,” Suga agreed afficably. Daichi missed the smile Suga gave him as he examined his surroundings. The runner along the staircase was a solid waterfall of Beauxbaton blue velvet edged in gold.

“Come on,” Suga started walking up the staircase. Daichi hesitated.

“If I go back into the cabinet will it even transport me back to Hogwarts?”

“Well no, because it only activates for Beauxbaton students.” Suga turned and walked backwards up the stairs, then smiled in that same mischievous way that made Daichi’s stomach flip. “But do you really want to go back?”

Daichi’s feet answered for him as they moved to follow Suga. The velvet was as soft and as springy as it looked. At the top they turned and walked down an enormous hallway. Torches didn’t light the castle like at Hogwarts, instead light bloomed from fixtures in the shape of lilies, their glass bodies sparkling like a incandescent garden against the walls. There were portraits but unlike Hogwarts they only displayed the visage of very good-looking people or handsome, majestic animals. Daichi stared at a painting of a Vipertooth breathing fire at a canopy of trees beneath it. He couldn’t imagine Sir Cadogan running through the hallways at Beauxbatons.

The walls were a solid white marble. The tiles beneath their feet were of a darker grey marble with veins of shimmering silver shooting throughout the surface. It was so shiny and luminescent their feet seemed to spark against it at every step. Everything was sparkling and clean; Daichi surmised that they must have had hundreds of house elves to service the castle.

“It’s right up here.” Suga’s voice jolted Daichi out of his state of awe.

“What’s right up there?” Daichi queried.

“One of our study rooms.”

They passed a door as big as the one at Hogwart’s front entrance.

“You brought me here to study?”

Suga only smiled at him as he stopped in front of a door and pushed it open.

Daichi peeked inside. There was a large circular lowered seating area that took up most of the room. It was filled with colorful silk pillows and plush blankets that begged to be laid on by weary bodies. Fruit trees lined the walls: apple, orange, dirigible plums, even mangoes. All of them were lush and ripe with produce; Daichi didn’t need to taste a piece to know they would probably be extraordinarily delicious.

“This is like the forbidden garden,” Daichi heard himself saying.

“Good observation Daichi!” Suga grinned at him, then launched himself onto the soft mound of pillows and blankets. The ground underneath must have been cushioned because Suga bounced down like he’d landed in a pile of clouds.

“This room is nicknamed ‘Eden’,” Suga informed him, then cocked a silky brow at Daichi suggestively. “Care to partake in its splendor?”

Daichi stared. Then he laughed. Suga grinned. “Good to see that you’re finally taking my advice.”

“Your advice?” Daichi jumped down onto the cottony softness beside Suga.

“To stop taking everything so seriously.”

“Well I just snuck into what is possibly the most beautiful castle in the world and am now lying in a room made of pillows with twelve different kinds of exotic fruit within reach.”

“Cushy life you’re living there.”

“Well, I had some help getting to this point.” Daichi reached over and nudged Suga on the shoulder. Then he let his fingers linger, tracing over the knit pattern of Suga’s sweater.

“Suga,” Daichi swallowed thickly, thinking about what he had just witnessed fifteen minutes prior. It wouldn’t do to have his underclassman be more brave than he was, “will you go on a date with me?”

  
———

Suga sucked in a breath. “Daichi I can’t go out with you.”

This wasn’t the response Daichi had been expecting. He pulled his fingers away from Suga’s shoulder. “You can’t go out with me? Why not?”

Suga looked away, exposing the pale expanse of his neck to Daichi. “I just can’t.” He grimaced, then shrugged like it was no big deal.

“Wait, you can’t or you don’t want to?”

Suga looked at him out of the corner of his eye, “Is there a difference?”

“There is to me.”

“Well there isn’t to me, since both answers end up with the same result.” Suga sat up suddenly and pouted. “You know I brought you here to make out, not for you to confess your undying love to me.”

Daichi choked. “My undying love?! How did you end up with that interpretation? I just asked you out on a date! One date!”

Suga chuckled with an air of cheery playfulness. “Calm down Daichi, remember? Forehead wrinkles? It was a joke.” Suga turned away from him, busying himself with rearranging a blanket. “It’s not a big deal. Don’t let this ruin anything Daichi. We can still hang out and have a good time.” The voice that reached Daichi’s ears was light and carefree.

Daichi’s forehead actually wrinkled in confusion at his tone. Daichi sat up and grabbed onto Suga’s shoulder. “Suga—” The words he’d been about to say died on his lips as he felt how tense Suga was despite the breezy attitude he was displaying.

Daichi knew he’d been absolutely hopeless when it came to Suga so far. So hopeless that all of his friends had, had to intervene in extremely embarrassing ways. But at that moment Daichi didn’t need anyone else intervening to let him know that Suga was currently projecting a false front of nonchalance. He was as tense as a rock and something was obviously wrong.

Daichi bit his lip, then hesitantly he grabbed onto Suga’s shoulders.

“Ok, we don’t have to date.”

Suga didn’t answer, didn’t react as Daichi’s fingers curled around the soft yarn of his sweater. Daichi pulled, sure that he would meet physical resistance, but Suga’s body complied easily. He fell backward against Daichi, and Daichi pulled him down to the pillows below.

“Let’s just lay here, like this. That’s alright, right?”

Suga fit into Daichi’s arms perfectly. His hair smelled like soap and sweets and it tickled Daichi’s nose when he inhaled, but he lay with his arms awkwardly at his sides as though he were afraid to move or touch Daichi more than necessary.

“Daichi what are you doing?”

“I’m just laying down and holding you,” Daichi informed him.

“Why?”

“Because,” Daichi folded his arms tighter around Suga, “I feel like right now, you could really use a hug.”

Suga stiffened even more in Daichi’s embrace, letting Daichi know he’d hit the proverbial nail on the head.

“I’m not going to pressure you into anything you don’t want to do.” Daichi murmured. He reached his hand around until he found Suga’s hand then gently wrapped his fingers around the other boy’s slender ones. “But I also get the feeling you’re not doing what you actually want to do.”

“It doesn’t matter what I want,” Suga voiced softly.

“It matters to me what you want,” Daichi countered. Suga sucked in a sharp breath at his words. Daichi began tracing a thumb around Suga’s palm, a cathartic metronome to the cadence of his words. “Which is why I’ll do what you say and not ask you on a date again. But in exchange for that, I want to ask you another question and I want you to promise to answer me honestly. Deal?”

Suga didn’t respond right away. Daichi’s thumb continued its movements. Finally, Suga took a deep breath.

“Ok, deal.”

“Suga, do you _want_ to date me?”

There was a longer pause this time, then,

“Yeah. I suppose I do.”

“Alright. That’s all I wanted to know.” Daichi felt the tension in his chest ease at Suga’s words. Daichi may not have had the most extensive dating history but he was smart enough to realize that there was something that was troubling Suga, some demon or problem or secret that was plaguing him. There were a million things it could have been and Daichi could only guess what they were. However he wasn’t about to pry just then. He’d take it slow; he had time to figure it out.

They had time to figure it out.

Daichi had no way of knowing that later on there would be a day where he would reflect on this moment and he’d find himself deeply regretting his decision.

  
———

The next morning Daichi accosted Suga before he could enter the Great Hall for breakfast.

“Lovely morning for a walk isn’t it?” he echoed Suga’s words of the previous night.

Suga eyed Daichi with amused suspicion. “Daichi, what’re you up to?”

“Nothing! Nothing, just asking you to accompany me on this fine morning.”

At Suga’s skeptical look Daichi grabbed his hand and led him out of the castle. “The sun is shining so brilliantly in the sky! We can’t afford to waste such a beautiful morning indoors can we?”

“Daichi you absolutely suck at poker don’t you?”

Daichi smile faltered before quickly correcting itself. “What makes you say that?”

“Because when you’re trying to hide something you speak like someone trying to imitate what they think English aristocracy should sound like. A very very bad imitation.”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”

Suga huffed a laugh. “Right. Sure. Ok.” He didn’t remove his hand from Daichi’s grasp, an action Daichi took as a good sign.

Daichi walked across the grass holding Suga’s hand and humming quietly to himself. In reality it was an incredibly gorgeous morning. The sun shone brightly in the sky behind billowy white clouds as fat and as fluffy as puffskeins. The trees were edged in autumn, the leaves a melange of golds and deep reds and spicy oranges—fall foliage at its best.

“Here we are.”

“Oh no,” Suga started to tug against Daichi’s hold, but Daichi clamped his fingers firmly around Suga’s and didn’t let go. “Daichi you said you wouldn’t try to date me!”

“Date? This isn’t a date.” Daichi dragged Suga down to the picturesque checkered cloth spread across the grass and started rummaging through the large wicker picnic basket set up on the corner. He pulled out sandwiches and pastries and flasks of pumpkin juice. “This is just a nice morning breakfast between friends—a non-date.”

Suga rolled his eyes but his mouth was smiling. “A non-date.”

“Yup.” Daichi handed him a sandwich.

Suga sighed and accepted the sandwich. He bit into it. “Wow, this is actually good. You made this?”

Daichi grinned. “Of course not. The house elves made it for me. I didn’t want to poison you.” 

“I feel honored that you look out for my wellbeing in such thoughtful ways. Not poisoning me. Taking me out on a non-date.”

“Just a few of the amazing attributes I have in my repertoire, of which I have many.”

Suga looked at him with a pained smile. Then he threw his head back and shouted, “Ahhh!” and collapsed backward onto the blanket. “Daichi you’re so unbelievable!” he announced to the sky, but he was laughing when he said it. A pleased warmth tingled its way around Daichi’s stomach as he looked at Suga lying there in his Hogwarts robes under the sun, his eyes closed with a smile on his face.

“I even have an appropriate conversation topic prepared,” Daichi bragged as he threw some berries into his mouth.

“Oh?” Suga sat back up and picked up his bitten sandwich. “What is it?”

“Triwizard Tournament of course. We can sit here and piece together the meaning of the riddle.”

“Oh that,” Suga’s mouth quirked. “I already figured it out.”

“What?!” Daichi dropped the pastry he’d picked up back onto the plate. “But your name isn’t on the list.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure if I want to be in the tournament or not.”

“What’s not to be sure about? Eternal glory? A thousand galleons? Multi-school wide fame?”

“Well, there’s the whole injury and death and dying thing.”

“Oh yeah, that.”

“Yeah that.” Suga smiled at him sweetly. “Do you want me to tell you the answer?”

Daichi bit his lip and grinned. “It’s really tempting.”

“But you don’t want me to tell you.”

Daichi scratched the back of his neck bashfully. “I guess I feel like it’d be cheating.”

“But you were just suggesting we figure it out together.”

“True.”

“And yet now you don’t want my help. What is that some sort of Gryffindor pride thing?”

“No, I think it’s like a Sawamura Daichi thing.”

Suga’s eyes twinkled at him. “You tell a portrait.”

“What?”

“A portrait. The answer to the riddle is a portrait.”

Daichi gave him an incredulous look. “I can’t believe you just told me!”

Suga grinned unapologetically. “Well it’s not like you listened to what I said.”

“When didn’t I listen to you?”

“When you took me on this non-date.”

Daichi groaned.

“I forgot about that Slytherin drive for revenge.”

“That’s not a Slytherin trait, that’s a Sugawara Koushi trait.”

Daichi flopped backwards, halfway off the blanket onto the grass. “Haha, very funny.”

“Though I do remember Kuroo saying one of the rules of Slytherin House…”

“Number Nineteen of The Unwritten Rules of Slytherin House.” Daichi recited tonelessly. “The following reasons are the only excuses one can have for missing an important event: Revenge, a bad hair day, revenge, the need to catch up on a lack of sleep, and revenge. Though if the event is hosted by a Gryffindor any excuse is acceptable.”

Suga laughed in delight. “Do you have the entire list memorized?”

“Unfortunately.”

“You hang around Kuroo too much.”

“That’s something I tell myself everyday.”

“So are you going to enter then?”

“Of course. Of course I am.” Daichi sighed pseudo-dramatically.” “I’m a Gryffindor, we charge in without thinking, thirsty for any task that might test our bravery.”

“I suppose some people find that attractive.”

“Does the present company not share that opinion?”

“The present company will decline from answering.”

“With those kinds of diplomatic smarts you could have been a Ravenclaw.”

“The hat said I would be good in Ravenclaw.”

Daichi propped himself up on his elbows and quirked a brow. “Really? Then how’d you end up in Slytherin?”

“The hat said I’d have more fun in Slytherin, so I said, ‘Okay put me in that one then’.”

Daichi laughed. “That sounds like you.”

Suga’s eyes narrowed playfully, “Oh? So you think you know a lot about me now?”

“No,” Daichi looked up at the blue sky above them. It was pure and clean and too cerulean for an autumn day, “I definitely don’t think I know much about you.”

When he looked back at Suga, Suga’s smile was almost a little sad. Daichi locked eyes with him. “But I’d like to. I’d like to know more about you.”

Suga groaned. “You don’t give up do you?”

“I wouldn’t be a Gryffindor if I did.”

“So that one’s a Gryffindor trait?”

“It’s a Gryffindor trait and a Sawamura Daichi trait.”

He smiled at Suga, open and easy, and Suga smiled back.

 

————

Yamaguchi snuck down the corridor, jumping at every creak and squeak that the old castle made around him. It was the last night before the deadline and he was determined to solve the riddle no matter the cost. It was just a matter of avoiding any of the Prefects that would be patrolling the corridors, especially Daichi or Kuroo. Daichi because he would be strict and give Yamaguchi detention for being out of bed after hours and Kuroo—well for obvious reasons.

Yamaguchi should have known by then that a person trying to avoid their worst nightmare was a comic relief to the literary gods, because as he turned the first corner leading out of the corridor that led from the Hufflepuff basement, he came across Kuroo walking away from the picture of the of the fruit bowl apparently exiting the kitchens.

Yamaguchi froze and watched as Kuroo simply looked at him, raised a brow, then walked away. He was about to let out the breath he'd unintentionally held before Kuroo suddenly made an about face and sauntered back over to Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi’s eyes darted around the hallway, which was utterly and completely empty besides the two of them. He was fucked. He was so fucked.

“I should give you detention, you know? You’re sneaking out and all.” Kuroo leaned back against the cold stone of the dungeon. He leveled a stare at Yamaguchi which Yamaguchi returned. Ever since he’d punched Kuroo his fear of the other boy had vanished. Sure he still made him nervous as hell and his supposed past with Tsukki made Yamaguchi extremely uneasy, but he wasn’t scared anymore—at least mentally. There was a small part of him that still cringed at the thought of the physical pain Kuroo could inflict on him, but some things just couldn’t be helped.

“Alright, just do it. Get it over with,” Yamaguchi ground out from behind his clenched teeth.

Kuroo gave a salient tilt of his head. “Do what?”

“Go ahead, punch me. I know I deserve it.”

Kuroo looked away like he was checking if the coast was clear. When he turned back to Yamaguchi he was smirking. He pushed off of the wall.

“Yamaguchi I don’t know what I’ve done to make you hate me so badly.” He walked steadily towards Yamaguchi, who bravely held his ground. “But I gotta tell you, you’re not such a bad kid.” He stopped in front of Yamaguchi, and Yamaguchi could smell the scent of his cologne which was probably imported and crazy expensive. “You’re really a decent person, though you can’t throw a decent punch.” Kuroo chuckled and lifted a hand to Yamaguchi’s chin, tilting it upward. “So don’t take this too personally.” His other hand curled into a fist.

Yamaguchi instinctively closed his eyes, bracing himself for the impact.

Instead, a tangy mouth pressed against his own, lips full and warm and searing. Yamaguchi’s eyes flew open and he gasped into Kuroo’s mouth and tried to rear back, but Kuroo’s hand snaked into his hair and kept him in place.

Kuroo’s kiss was hot and assaulting. His mouth moved against Yamaguchi’s, demanding and insistent and Yamaguchi felt an intense burning scorch through his body at the impact. Kuroo swiped his tongue along Yamaguchi’s lower lip then sucked it in-between his teeth, biting down without warning. A moan sounded in the air and belatedly Yamaguchi realized it was it was own voice making the noise. By the time he realized it Kuroo had already pulled back, leaving Yamaguchi dazed like he’d been struck by a whirlwind and left to stand on legs that felt like jello.

“Spread love not war, right?” Kuroo chucked him on the chin as though he were a cute child and turned to depart. He stopped by the painting of the fruit bowl. “Hey Yamaguchi sometimes you have to _reframe_ what you see in a new light, so you open up _new challenges_  for yourself.

He taped the wooden frame of the painting meaningfully, then ambled off.

A few minutes passed with Yamaguchi staring into the empty direction that Kuroo had taken off in. Then Yamaguchi tried to move. He stumbled and caught himself against the wall.

Over the years Yamaguchi had grown to hate cliches, an after effect of hanging around Tsukishima’s cynical nature, but apparently love and hate did walk a very fine line.

He bit this lip, tongue tracing over the exact spot that Kuroo had bitten into. He imagined he could feel the indent Kuroo’s teeth had left—straight and thin and narrow—spanning the length of his lower lip.

A very fine line indeed.

 

 

  
 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unicornpie! You figured out the riddle! Whoop whoop! you can pick a pairing to appear in the next chapter, (either an established one, or a plutonic non-established pair/set of characters) and the scene/and what they’re doing in it (as long as it follows along with the story), and I’ll write it into the chapter as your prize. :D
> 
> So random, but when I started this story a year and a half ago I got dozens and dozens of messages asking me why I had put Suga into Slytherin/how could I put Suga in Slytherin yada yada yada (lol but it's totally fine if you don't think of the Suga in your mind as a Slytherin I don't mind!) but just now I was browsing to see if there were more HQ!!HP fics and I see there are loads of then with Suga in Slytherin now and it makes me so happy tehehehehee. I’m glad to see it’s become a trend. :D :D :D
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and kudos everyone! They're what keeps me going :D
> 
> Edited: Thank you so much for 1000 kudos!!!! That means 1000 people all over the world have read this and also hopefully love Haikyuu!! and Harry Potter as much as I do and that makes me so happy and I'm so touched and don't know what to say and I'm making this end note way too long because I can't even express how much I love you all thank you so much. Thank you thank you thank you!
> 
> Edited yet again!  
> I started up a companion collection (drabbles/ficlets/oneshots) that are side stories to this fic (that aren't really related to the plot, they're just written for fun/to give more insight into the characters/to quench my thirst for more hq!!hp stuff.) Enjoy!!! [I Unsolemnly Swear](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8979640)


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